Not exactly Willy Loman, and not exactly now, Nichols was interviewed by the NPR business show Marketplace in 2012, when he directed a Broadway revival of "Death of a Salesman" starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as the doomed Willy Loman.
I chanced upon part of that on Marketplace this evening, their memorial to Nichols, in the car:
Those two plays -- "Streetcar" and "Salesman" -- stayed with me in that I would refer to them as time and life went on. And more and more to "Salesman" and less and less to "Streetcar," because "Streetcar," after some time, no longer seemed to be about now at all. There are no Blanches anymore, but there are Willys. Yes there are, and not just over-50 salesmen who don't meet their quotas.More, below.