Tinseltown lost a legend when director Mike Nichols died on Wednesday, but the music world lost a hero too. Nichols was able to create soundtracks for his movies from popular music, a practice that at the time of movies like "The Graduate," was not common. 

“I’d been listening to their album every morning in the shower before I’d go to work, and then one morning it just hit me: ‘Schmuck! This is your soundtrack!’” Nichols said of Simon and Garfunkel's “The Sound of Silence” in a 2012 interview with Time Out New York.

“It’s one of those miraculous moments you get when you’re making a movie, where everything somehow comes together. It’s better than sex. (Pause) Okay, maybe not better, but it’s indescribably fantastic.”

Simon and Garfunkel's score for "The Graduate", which featured the number one hit, "Mrs. Robinson", won a Grammy and propelled the duo into superstardom. Art Garfunkel described the origins of the song in the Mark Eliot book, "Paul Simon: A Life".

Paul had been working on what is now 'Mrs. Robinson,' but there was no name in it and we’d just fill in with any three-syllable name. And because of the character in the picture we just began using the name 'Mrs. Robinson' to fit [...] and one day we were sitting around with Mike talking abut ideas for another song. And I said ‘What about Mrs. Robinson."' Mike shot to his feet. 'You have a song called "Mrs. Robinson" and you haven’t even shown it to me?' So we explained the working title and sang it for him. And then Mike froze it for the picture as 'Mrs. Robinson.'

Garfunkel would later be cast as an actor in two Nichols films, "Catch-22" and "Carnal Knowledge".

Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
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The admiration goes both ways. Carly Simon provided music for several of Nichol's films, including "Let the River Run" from "Working Girl," told Billboard the director was something special. "I could never spend enough time with Mike. His philosophies of life were truly brilliant, amusing and filled with warmth and an original take on people and love.

He gave me the biggest break by asking me to score the movie Heartburn and after that,Working Girl and Postcards From the Edge," Simon recalls. "He gave all he had; it shows in the relationships he values most, with Diane (Sawyer) and (their children) Max and Jenny." Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.

 

 

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