{"id":2424243,"date":"2026-05-20T03:25:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2424243"},"modified":"2026-05-20T03:25:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:25:51","slug":"cher-reveals-the-harsh-advice-mike-nichols-gave-her-at-the-start-of-her-acting-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/cher-reveals-the-harsh-advice-mike-nichols-gave-her-at-the-start-of-her-acting-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Cher reveals the harsh advice Mike Nichols gave her at the start of her acting career"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\">Key Points<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"mb-4\">\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cher says Mike Nichols shared sharp words at the beginning of her career when she sought him out for an audition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Cher, there&#8217;s only two kinds of women, and you&#8217;re not the right one,&#8221; the &#8220;Turn Back Time&#8221; singer recalls Nichols telling her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I said, &#8216;Well, you know what? I&#8217;m talented, and someday you&#8217;re going to be sorry.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Don&#8217;t ever underestimate <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/person\/cher\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Cher;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Cher&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Cher<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The eternal pop icon stopped by the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3acHeCRK5jw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:The Howard Stern Show;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;The Howard Stern Show&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>The Howard Stern Show<\/em><\/a> on May 16 for a wide-ranging interview covering her music career, transformation into a screen star, family life, lovers, haters, and more. Given Cher&#8217;s widely embraced eminence nowadays as an actress, it&#8217;s hard to imagine a time when that part of her range wasn&#8217;t taken seriously. It&#8217;s especially hard to believe that the man who would go on to direct her in her first Oscar-nominated role was also one of her first doubters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I was with [David Geffen] at the time when I started trying to get an audition, and we had all these friends, high as you can go \u2014 nobody wanted to,&#8221; Cher explained. Then she went to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/person\/mike-nichols\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Mike Nichols;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Mike Nichols&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Mike Nichols<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-primary p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-primary\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" class=\"flex-none size-4 -scale-x-100 text-primary lg:size-6 [&amp;_path]:fill-current\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M3.1 3.1V11h1.8V6.314l5.392 5.393 1.415-1.414L6.313 4.9H11V3.1zm17.8 17.8V13h-1.8v4.686l-5.393-5.393-1.415 1.414 5.393 5.393H13v1.8z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-primary hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p><i>Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher in &#8216;Silkwood&#8217;<br \/>Credit: Everett Collection<\/i><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I went to Mike Nichols because he was doing a movie, and I said, &#8216;I&#8217;d like to audition for the part,'&#8221; the &#8220;Believe&#8221; singer recalled. &#8220;He said, &#8216;Cher, there&#8217;s only two kinds of women, and you&#8217;re not the right one.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Host Howard Stern asked incredulously if Nichols even afforded Cher the &#8220;courtesy of an audition,&#8221; to which she replied, &#8220;No.&#8221; But she still described <em>The Graduate <\/em>director as &#8220;sweet, because that&#8217;s who he was. He said, &#8216;But I&#8217;ll keep you in mind.&#8217; I said, &#8216;Well, you know what? I&#8217;m talented, and someday you&#8217;re going to be sorry.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fortunately for Nichols, he came to see and understand Cher&#8217;s talent before she had the chance to prove him wrong in someone else&#8217;s movie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cher played herself in a couple frothy hippie movies in the mid-1960s, including 1967&#8217;s <em>Good Times<\/em>, which marked William Friedkin&#8217;s directorial debut. But she began to seek out meaty film roles in earnest at the top of the &#8217;80s, proving herself to anyone had the sense to see Robert Altman&#8217;s 1982 adaptation of the path-breaking Ed Graczyk play, <em>Come Back to the 5 &amp; Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Nichols cast Cher as plutonium plant worker Dolly Pelliker opposite <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/person\/meryl-streep\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Meryl Streep;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Meryl Streep&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Meryl Streep<\/a> in the following year&#8217;s <em>Silkwood<\/em>, a dramatization of the Howard Kohn book <em>Who Killed Karen Silkwood?<\/em>, which explored the suspicious death of the nuclear energy whistleblower and labor rights activist played by Streep. Both actresses were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><strong><em>Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our<\/em><\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/ew-dispatch-newsletter-11812417\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:EW Dispatch newsletter;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;EW Dispatch newsletter&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><strong><em>EW Dispatch newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cher told Stern that she had two famous supporters early on, who helped encourage her take acting seriously. One was Francis Ford Coppola (&#8220;I still love him so much&#8221;), and the other was Shelley Winters, who offered Cher the following bit of no-nonsense advice: &#8220;If you want to be serious, and you want to be an actress, get your ass to New York.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">You can watch Cher&#8217;s full appearance on <em>The Howard Stern Show <\/em>above.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the original article on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/cher-reveals-mike-nichols-harsh-advice-at-the-start-of-her-acting-career-11979125\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Entertainment Weekly;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Entertainment Weekly&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Cher says Mike Nichols shared sharp words at the beginning of her career when she sought him out for an audition. &#8220;Cher, there&#8217;s only two kinds of women, and you&#8217;re not the right one,&#8221; the &#8220;Turn Back Time&#8221; singer recalls Nichols telling her. &#8220;I said, &#8216;Well, you know what? I&#8217;m talented, and someday [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2424244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[352457,305662,373341],"class_list":["post-2424243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-cher","tag-howard-stern","tag-mike-nichols"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Cher-reveals-the-harsh-advice-Mike-Nichols-gave-her-at.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2424243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2424245,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424243\/revisions\/2424245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2424244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2424243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2424243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2424243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}