Mike Nichols: Stars pay tribute to director

Stars have been paying tribute to director Mike Nichols who has died aged 83.

Oscar winning director Steven Spielberg led the tributes saying: "Mike was a friend, a muse, a mentor, one of America's all time greatest film and stage directors, and one of the most generous people I have ever known.

"For me, The Graduate was life altering - both as an experience at the movies as well as a master class about how to stage a scene. Mike had a brilliant cinematic eye and uncanny hearing for keeping scenes ironic and real.

"Actors never gave him less than their personal best - and then Mike would get from them even more. And in a room full of people, Mike was always the centre of gravity. This is a seismic loss."

Meryl Streep, who worked with Nichols on Silkwood, Heartburn and most recently the HBO adaptation of Terrence McNally's Master Class, said he was "an inspiration and joy to know, a director who cried when he laughed, a friend without whom, well, we can't imagine our world, an indelible irreplaceable man".

Tom Hanks, who starred in Charlie Wilson's War, which Nichols directed, wrote: "'Forward. We must always move forward. Otherwise what will become of us?' said Mike Nichols, who changed the lives of those who knew him, who loved him, who will miss him so."

Playwright Tom Stoppard called Nichols his "hero", adding: "Everyone who was close to Mike has suffered a loss which cannot be repaired, ever.

"To have been his friend was a blessing. To have worked with him was both a privilege and the best of times. He was my hero."

Other stars who paid tribute on Twitter include actor Kevin Spacey, who said the director "gave me my start".