Given Whoopi Goldberg's massive influence and presence on The View, it can be easy to forget that she's a very accomplished stand-up comedian and, more relevantly, an Academy Award-winning actor. As Whoopi herself has stated, she owes her career to two powerful individuals. Most famously, her audition for Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple led to her becoming an A-list actor and an award winner. But it was actually famed-director Mike Nichols who really discovered Whoopi and gave her the chance in Hollywood that she desperately wanted. Here's the truth about their heartfelt and dynamic relationship...
How Mike Met Whoopi
Famed-director Mike Nichols gave a number of now-famous actors their starts, specifically on Broadway. According to Broadway.com, Mike discovered Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid star Robert Redford. But Mike Nichols is most famous for finding Whoopi Goldberg.
In 1984, Whoopi Goldberg was having a hard time of it. She was a single mother on welfare desperately trying to make it as a comedian and actor. After a bunch of failed attempts, she created a one-woman show, "The Spook Show", that showcased her talents. It was here that she was discovered by Mike Nichols.
At the time, Mike was known for his seminal directing work on Broadway. The Tony-award director brought the works of Neil Simon and Goerge Bernard Shaw to life. He was also acclaimed as a film director, specifically for Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe and The Graduate. Both movies were critically acclaimed and launched the careers of a bunch of now A-list actors, such as Dustin Hoffman. In short, he became one of the most revered and diverse directors in show business. Movies, theater, and television were all under his belt. So, he had all the connections to share with Whoopi when he discovered her at that one-woman show.
Although, Whoopi says that Mike wouldn't have found the show had it not been for a singular great review by The New York Times. Mike, who was there with his friend, told her just how much her work moved him. In fact, he started to cry.
In the show, Whoopi played multiple characters and showed off an immense range of her talents. While it eventually won her a Grammy, Mike gave Whoopi some honest advice about not 'meandering' and keeping things tight. While he was somewhat blunt about it, Whoopi has stated that his advice has stayed with her forever.
It wasn't long before Mike took Whoopi's show to Broadway. This took her out of poverty and launched her career.
"He said, 'Would you mind if I directed it?' And I was like, "Whatever you want to do. You know what I'm doing so, whatever you want to do'," Whoopi recalled in an interview with the Television Academy Foundation. However, Whoopi still had her moments of insecurity. After all, the attention was relatively new to her.
"I said, 'I should tell you, I can really suck badly.' He said, 'Do you suck often?'" Whoopi recalled to The New Yorker.
This Broadway production of her one-woman show gave Whoopi Goldberg the platform to pursue her stand-up comedy, a bigger career in theater, as well as film. After all, it was Mike Nichols who suggested to Steven Spielberg that he cast her in The Color Purple.
The Death Of Mike Nichols Really Affected Whoopi
"Life is so short," Whoopi said on the 2014 episode of The View. By this time into her on-air eulogy for Mike Nichols, she was already tearing up. It was at this time that her View co-stars stepped in to help her get through the announcement of the heart attack that took Mike's life long before he should have left us.
Over the years, Whoopi maintained a friendship with Mike Nichols. While they didn't see each other all of the time, there was a real connection between the two of them. More importantly, Whoopi viewed Mike as the man who showed her the platform to which to stand on and shine her talent onto the world. Nothing is as important to an artist as that.
As stated in the announcement of Mike's tragic passing on The View, 'this man meant the world' to Whoopi. And that was made evident by Whoopi's tears. In fact, she embraced her sadness so much that she started to shake on live television.
"Mike Nichols was the one who first saw Whoopi performing and said, 'You got something, kid'," Rosie O'Donnell read on behalf of Whoopi who was being comforted by her other co-hosts. "He gave her her entire beginning of her career and recognized her brilliance before anyone else.”
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