Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Other Stars Remember Mike Nichols

— -- Hollywood is today mourning the loss of Mike Nichols, the legendary director and husband to ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.

"Mike was a friend, a muse, a mentor, one of America's all time greatest film and stage directors, and one of the most generous people I have ever known. For me, 'The Graduate' was life altering—both as an experience at the movies as well as a master class about how to stage a scene," director Steven Spielberg told ABC News in a statement. "Mike had a brilliant cinematic eye and uncanny hearing for keeping scenes ironic and real. Actors never gave him less than their personal best—and then Mike would get from them even more. And in a room full of people, Mike was always the center of gravity. This is a seismic loss."

Spielberg isn't alone. Stars including Meryl Streep, Kerry Washington and Tom Hanks have expressed their grief via social media and through media statements.

“Forward. We must always move forward. Otherwise what will become of us?” Tom Hanks told Variety. “Mike Nichols, who changed the lives of those who knew him, who loved him, who will miss him so.”

“An inspiration and joy to know, a director who cried when he laughed, a friend without whom, well, we can’t imagine our world, an indelible irreplaceable man,” Meryl Streep told Variety