Early Life Mike Nichols was born as Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin, Germany on November 6th 1931. His father was a Austrian Doctor who was a Jew from Russian Immigrants and his mother was a German Jew. His father made Nichols live in Serbia so that the Russian Revolution would not affect him. He later moved to settle in Germany (Gates). Mike Nichols is a third cousin twice removed from the scientist Albert Einstein from his mother’s side (Gates). Filmmaking Career Later, Mike moved to Vancouver to start his filmmaking career professionally. He acted and directed in various productions. In 1963, Nichols was chosen to lead Neil Simon 's Broadway play Barefoot in the Park which is a romantic comedy that starred Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley. He realized almost immediately that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Barefoot in the Park
Cited: Caggiano, Chris. "Review - My One and Only at the Goodspeed Opera House - Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals." 22 May 2011. Everything Musicals. (http://everythingmusicals.com/everything_i_know_i_learn/2011/05/review-my-one-and-only-at-the-goodspeed-opera-house.html Comedy. University Of Chicago Press, 1991. Rich, Frank. "Tom Stoppard 's Real Thing". The New York Times 6 January 1984. (http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html) Wakeman, John. World Film Directors, Volume 2. The H. W. Wilson Company, 1988. 704-710. Also a lot of help from www.imdb.com