"You know, people think that because I'm Mike Nichols, I don't need praise. I need a lot. Nobody gets that." The previous quote comes from Mark Harris’s excellent 2020 biography (review here) of - you guessed it - Mike Nichols.
To read about the polymath was to marvel at how much he was venerated by the best and seemingly brightest. As no less than Oprah Winfrey once said, Nichols was the individual that everyone wanted to be seated next to at dinner parties dense with people whom every would want to be seated next to. Apparently, Nichols had that certain something.
Which perhaps requires a re-read of the quote that begins what is a review of Ian Leslie’s excellent new book about John Lennon and Paul McCartney, John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs. Nichols, despite broad worship for him by the brightest of bright people from entertainment, business, politics, and the arts, still needed praise. Which means a lack of praise was arguably worse than a bad review for him. Think about it.
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