Mike Nichols

I love showbiz biographies full of the inside dope on glamorous, brilliant people, because I’ve always wanted to be one of those glamorous, brilliant people. 

Mike Nichols knew everyone important in the arts, ate at the most fabulous restaurants, traveled to the most luxurious locations, and owned several grand homes. And I am pleased to report that he was frequently anxious and depressed. 

I find it very reassuring to learn that someone who has everything I’ve ever dreamed of is no happier than I am. I know that sounds a little mean, but I never claimed to be perfect.

Journalist and former executive editor for Entertainment Weekly Mark Harris is three for three with his full-length books. His first, Pictures at a Revolution, examined the rise of New Hollywood through the five 1967 Best Picture nominees. His second, Five Came Back, chronicled five film directors who assisted in World War II. But his strongest work to date is a birth-to-earth, warts-and-all biography of one of the most influential personalities in American film and theatre, Mike Nichols. From his genre-altering comedy work with Elaine May to his Broadway collaborations with the likes of Simon and Hellman to helming… show more.

Let me ask you something. How do you write such an unflinching biography when you have the total cooperation of the subject without the subject having the good taste to pass away during Week One? Harris does it, and in doing so, vaults over the “Bang the Drum Slowly” author to number one on the list: “Greatest Writers Ever Named Mark Harris.” It is exhaustively researched yet reads like a thriller. And like Jane Leavy, Harris stays out of the way and leaves no fingerprints.