AFI to Honor Nichols with Lifetime Achievement Award

By Adam Hetrick
October 12, 2009

Academy and Tony Award-winning director Mike Nichols will be honored with the American Film Institute's 38th annual Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

"I'm surprised and pleased. The AFI award is truly an honor. I feel very blessed. I was watching 'The Graduate' on my Blackberry last week and it really holds up," Nichols quipped in a statement. The honor will be presented at a gala event in Los Angeles next summer.

AFI board chair Howard Stringer stated, "Genius is a word oft overused in our world, but surely not in the case of Mike Nichols. His artistry has spanned the mediums of modern storytelling – movies, television and the stage – and his gifts across five decades continue to inspire artists and audiences alike. It is AFI's honor to present him with its 38th Life Achievement Award."

An eight-time Tony Award winner, Mike Nichols has directed the Broadway productions of Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Luv, Plaza Suite, Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Gin Game, Hurlyburly, Death and the Maiden, The Real Thing, Spamalot and The Country Girl. His numerous film credits include "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "The Graduate" (Academy Award), "Catch 22," "Working Girl," "Postcards From the Edge," "The Birdcage," "Closer," "Wit," "Angels in America" and "Charlie Wilson's War."