After his early successes as a stage and film director, Nichols had developed a reputation as an auteur who likes to work intimately with his actors and writers, often using them repeatedly in different films. Writer Peter Applebome noted that "few directors have such a gift for getting performances out of actors." During a half-year period in 1967 he had four hit plays running simultaneously on Broadway, during which time his first Hollywood feature, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", had also become a popular and critical success. Combined with his second film, "The Graduate", in 1967, the two films had already earned a total of 20 Oscar nominations, including two for Best Director, and winning it for "The Graduate."