Early Life and Education
Mike Nichols was born Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin, Germany, the son of Brigitte (née Landauer) and Paul Peschkowsky, a physician. His father was born in Vienna, Austria, to a Russian Jewish immigrant family; Nichols' father's family had been wealthy and lived in Siberia, leaving after the Russian Revolution, and settling in Germany around 1920. Nichols' mother's family were German Jews. His maternal grandparents were anarchist Gustav Landauer and author Hedwig Lachmann. Nichols is a third cousin twice removed of scientist Albert Einstein, through Nichols' mother.
In April 1938, when the Nazis were arresting Jews in Berlin, seven-year-old Michael and his three-year-old brother Robert were sent alone to United States to meet up with their father, who had fled months earlier. Mike’s mother eventually joined the family, escaping through Italy in 1940. The family moved to the New York City to flee the Nazis on April 28, 1939. His father changed his name to Paul Nichols, and set up a successful medical practice in Manhattan, enabling the family to live near Central Park.
Mike Nichols became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1944 and attended public elementary school in Manhattan (PS 87). After graduating from Walden High School, Nichols briefly attended New York University before dropping out. In 1950, he enrolled in the pre-med program at the University of Chicago.
While attending the University of Chicago in the 1950s, Nichols began skipping class to attend theatrical activities. Nichols first met Elaine May at this time when she criticized his acting in a performance of August Strindberg's Miss Julie. At the University, Nichols made his theatrical debut as a director with a performance of William Butler Yeats' Purgatory. In 1954, Nichols dropped out of the University of Chicago and moved back to New York City, where he was accepted into the Actor's Studio and studied under Lee Strasberg.
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