The late director of stage and screen had a special connection with the “Color Purple” star.
And the emotion was very genuine.
Afterward, he knocked on her dressing room door.
Host Whoopi Goldberg and guest Mike Nichols on “The View” in 2012.Ida Mae Astute/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty
She was surprised when, about a month later, he did.
He arranged for an apartment for her to stay in and attended rehearsals with her.
He even befriended Goldberg’s mom, who was often by the actress' side in those days.
Whoopi Goldberg’s new memoir is “Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me.".Blackstone Publishing
Blackstone Publishing
Just as importantly, Nichols invited Goldberg to attend events with him.
“Mike gave me permission to fly on stage,” Goldberg writes.
“Even off the stage, Mike always let me feel like I belonged where I was.
Whoopi Goldberg stars in “The Color Purple.".Everett Collection
Not like a newcomer.
He always invited me along to whatever he had going on.
If my mom was there, he included her.”
She noted that Nichols “understood” her and her mother.
He gave the her confidence that she could tackle any role.
He also boosted her career.
“Because of Mike Nichols, I got the attention ofSteven Spielberg,” Goldberg writes.
That started up a long audition process that took almost a year.
At that time, I didn’t know that he was pretty set on me playing Celie.”
She last saw Nichols at a meeting he requested that also includedCynthia NixonandChristine Baranski.
It was two weeks before hedied of a heart attack in Nov. 19, 2014.
“We all had a two-hour lunch.
We laughed and told stories and listened to Mike tell stories,” Goldberg writes.
It seemed like Mike was thinner and didn’t have the energy he once had.
We all figured he was eighty-three now, so none of us mentioned it to each other.
I didn’t know it would be my last time seeing him.
None of us did.”
At the time ofNichols’s death, Goldberg was just six months out from having lost her brother.
I couldn’t stop crying long enough to say anything.”
Her cohosts mostly spoke for her, but Goldberg managed to explain that Nichols had been her “mentor.
