He, along with the other members of the "Compass Players" including Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne Piven, 'Joyce Piven' and Edward Asner helped start the famed "Second City Improv" company. They used the games taught to them by fellow cast mate, 'Paul Sill' 's mother, Viola Spolin. He later worked in legitimate theater as an actor before entering into a very successful comedy duo with Elaine May. The two were known as "the world's fastest humans".


Regarding Henry (1991): $3,000,000
Catch-22 (1970): $1,000,000
Teach Me! (1968): $1,000,000 + 10% of profits
The Graduate (1967): $500,000
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966): $250,000

Back in Berlin, Mike's father was part of a young intellectual circle that included Russian immigrants such as Vladimir Nabokov's sister and Boris Pasternak's parents. One of Directors Guild of America annual Honorees, 2000. One of 5 recipients of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors; other recipients were James Brown, Carol Burnett, Loretta Lynn and Itzhak Perlman. Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 704-710. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988. Directed 17 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances:Elizabeth Taylor, Sandy Dennis,Richard Burton, George Segal,Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft,Katharine Ross, Ann-Margret, Meryl Streep,Cher, Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver,Joan Cusack, Kathy Bates, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Taylor and Dennis won Oscars for their performances in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Worked at the Howard Johnson's restaurant in New York's Times Square when he was 17 years old. Since the early 1960s, he has been a well-renowned figure among Arabian Horse fans - breeder of over 400 registered Arabians and has bred and owned many US National Champion horses. He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 2001 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C. Was interested to direct First Blood (1982) with Dustin Hoffman as John Rambo. Became a naturalized US citizen in 1944. Teaches occasionally at The New Actor's Workship in New York City. When he won his first Oscar as Best Director for The Graduate (1967), the statuette was presented to him by actress Leslie Caron. Is the only person who won a best director Oscar prior to 1972 still living (January, 2009). He is one of 7 directors to win the Golden Globe, Director's Guild, BAFTA, and Oscar for the same movie. He won for The Graduate (1967). The other directors to have achieved this are Milos Forman for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Richard Attenborough for Gandhi (1982), Oliver Stone for Platoon (1986), Steven Spielberg for Schindler's List (1993), Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005), and Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008).