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Hollywood's A-List turns out to celebrate Mike Nichols at AFI tribute

The ambiance at the Sony Pictures Studios soundstage, where Judy Garland once walked down the Yellow Brick Road, had a couple of differences from the Academy Awards: The tribute for the 78-year-old was more intimate and, as Helen Mirren said while waiting for her car after the festivities, “there was lots of love in the room."

How much?

Enough to warrant a surprise appearance by Simon & Garfunkel performing “Mrs. Robinson" from 1967's “The Graduate," on the eve of the pair's next concert tour. That alone would have been worth the price of the evening. Then an avalanche of stars rolled through Stage 15 at Sony Studios (the same place where Judy Garland once skipped down the Yellow Brick Road.)

If it's true that a man can be judged by the company he keeps, Mike Nichols must be a whale of a guy.

The gala to present the 38th AFI Life Achievement Award to the director on Thursday evening was so star-studded, it could have vied with the Oscars for sheer wattage. As the director of such films as “The Graduate," “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," “Carnal Knowledge" and “Silkwood" looked on with his wife, Diane Sawyer, a steady parade of Hollywood A-listers -- several of whom were AFI Life Achievement Award-winners or had seen their careers launched by his films -- stood up to make warm and often hilarious remarks: Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Elaine May, AFI Board of Trustees Chairman Howard Stringer, Calista Flockhart, Candice Bergen, Shirley MacLaine, Natalie Portman, Cher, Nora Ephron, Aaron Sorkin, Kevin Spacey, Robin Williams and Emma Thompson.

And that didn't even include Eric Idle performing a song from the Nichols-directed Broadway hit “Spamalot" -- while wearing wings that referenced Nichols' HBO work “Angels in America" -- or such distinguished audience members as Oprah Winfrey, Morgan Freeman, Tim Curry and Wallace Shawn.

As last year's AFI honoree, Michael Douglas, quipped, “Where the hell were all of you last year?"

Even more surprising? Nichols lured Lakers fan Jack Nicholson, who starred in his 1970s movies “Carnal Knowledge" and “The Fortune," even though Game 4 of the NBA Finals was on that night. (Nicholson appeared midway through the evening.) The actor capped off stream-of-consciousness remarks about oysters and inadequate pay with the apt conclusion that he was “feeling pretty good -- a little bit Jackie, a little bit Norman Maine," alluding to 1954's “A Star Is Born" and James Mason's scene as a drunk, fallen matinee idol disturbing an event honoring his wife.

Indeed, several intriguing snippets of film history were revealed in moving moments throughout the evening.

The event will air on TV Land on June 26.

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