The daughter of Yiddish stage actor (and director) Jack Berlin, the multi-talented Elaine May began performing onstage as a child, touring in several plays with her father, as well as acting in radio productions. Her sojourn with Chicago's The Compass Players, an improvisational comedy troupe that later evolved into Second City, brought her in contact with the likes of Alan Arkin, Barbara Harris and Paul Sills. But it was her teaming with another Compass player, Mike Nichols, that led to her first brush with fame. In 1956, they formed a successful comic duo who became performing mainstays in
