An almost perfect match of biographer and subject, Mark Harris' Mike Nichols: A Life is a definitive work and, given Harris' access to Nichols' collaborators, I suspect it will remain so. I enjoyed Harris' two previous books (Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back), but this book has even more breadth and depth.
The son of German emigres who became the toast of Manhattan's cultural elite, Nichols has meteoric success, but was plagued by lifelong feelings of insecurity. The sensitivity that made Nichols such a superb handler of actors and writers also left him vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and addiction. Generous to his friends, Nichols could also be self-absorbed and prickly. Harris is even-handed in portraying Nichols' conviviality and cold-bloodedness.
I have always found Nichol's film work to be urbane and superficial. Perhaps, like Tony Richardson, George C. Wolfe and Sam Mendes, his talents were better suited to the theater. His main artistic conflict was reconciling his love of modernist existential theater (Pirandello, Becket) with his love of improv and schtick. The Venn diagram of this was his stage direction of Waiting for Godot with Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Bill Irwin, F. Murray Abraham and Lukas Haas, no less. I feel he was better suited to Neil Simon than Beckett. I wish he had directed on film other Simon adaptations besides Biloxi Blues, especially The Odd Couple. However, Nichols had locked horns with Walter Matthau while directing the stage production.
Harris confirms that Nichols was fairly ignorant of the technical aspects of film. Yet, through the detailing of Nichols' attempts to bounce back from numerous disasters, Harris made me admire his subject's tenacity. A must read for theater and film buffs.
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