Hollywood's A-List turns out to celebrate Mike Nichols at AFI tribute 
June 11, 2010 |  3:14 pm

If it’s true that a man can be judged by the company he keeps, Mike Nichols must be a whale of a guy.
The gala to present the 38th AFI Life Achievement Award to the director on Thursday evening was so star-studded, it could have vied with the Oscars for sheer wattage. As the director of such films as “The Graduate,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “Carnal Knowledge” and “Silkwood” looked on with his wife, Diane Sawyer, a steady parade of Hollywood A-listers — several of whom were AFI Life Achievement Award-winners or had seen their careers launched by his films — stood up to make warm and often hilarious remarks: Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Elaine May, AFI Board of Trustees Chairman Howard Stringer, Calista Flockhart, Candice Bergen, Shirley MacLaine, Natalie Portman, Cher, Nora Ephron, Aaron Sorkin, Kevin Spacey, Robin Williams and Emma Thompson.

Even more surprising? Nichols lured Lakers fan Jack Nicholson, who starred in his 1970s movies “Carnal Knowledge” and “The Fortune,” even though Game 4 of the NBA Finals was on that night. (Nicholson appeared midway through the evening.) The actor capped off stream-of-consciousness remarks about oysters and inadequate pay with the apt conclusion that he was “feeling pretty good — a little bit Jackie, a little bit Norman Maine,” alluding to 1954’s “A Star Is Born” and James Mason’s scene as a drunk, fallen matinee idol disturbing an event honoring his wife.


Mike Nichols and Diane Sawyer

Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts

Michael Douglas and Oprah Winfrey

Tom Hanks

Morgan Freeman

Annette Bening



Steven Spielberg

Shirley MacLaine and Meryl Streep


Natalie Portman

Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker and Emma Thompson

Cher