Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He took piano lessons as a boy and attended the Garrison and Boston Latin Schools. At Harvard University, he studied with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame-Hill, and A. Tillman Merritt, among others. Before graduating in 1939, he made an unofficial conducting debut with his own incidental music to 'The Birds,' and directed and performed in Marc Blitzstein's 'The Cradle Will Rock.' Then at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he studied piano with Isabella Vengerova, conducting with Fritz Reiner, and orchestration with Randall Thompson.
In PBS's upcoming AMERICAN MASTERS:MIKE NICHOLS documentary, airing Friday, January 29th, Oscar winner Meryl Streep recalls working with the acclaimed director.
Below, watch clips from the documentary including Alec Baldwin, Neil Simon, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane and Frank Langella remembering Mike Nichols' famous laugh and Dustin Hoffman and Paul Simon sharing stories about The Graduate.
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