Director Robert Altman Dies at 81

Altman was considered a Hollywood outsider having made a career out of bucking the system and making films his own way. While filming his breakthrough movie, "MASH," he was constantly being bombarded with memos from the studio whenever they would get word of something Altman was doing that they didn't approve of. Instead of arguing with them, Altman took the memos and incorporated them into the movie in scenes where there were announcements coming over the loudspeaker. The memos were read verbatim.

Altman was a seven time Academy Award nominee, earning five for best director for "MASH," "Nashville," "The Player," "Short Cuts," and "Gosford Park." Altman is the most nominated director (tied with Alfred Hitchcock, Clarence Brown, King Vidor and Martin Scorsese) to never win the Oscar. His other two nominations came as producer of "Nashville" and "Gosford Park."

Just this past February Altman was honored for lifetime achievement at the Academy Awards. When accepting Altman remarked, "No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have. I'm very fortunate in my career. I've never had to direct a film I didn't choose or develop. My love for filmmaking has given me an entree to the world and to the human condition." As he did in his movies, Altman threw a curve to the audience when he admitted he had had a heart transplant in the late 1990's. He chose not to reveal it publicly for fear of never being hired again. Due to his age and health, studios required that another director be on the set of Altman's last two films, "The Company," (2003), and "A Prairie Home Companion," (2006), on standby in case Altman was unable to finish the picture.

Altman was born in Kansas City on February 20th, 1925, the son of an insurance salesman. In 1945 he enlisted in the Air Force where he was co-pilot of a B-24. After his discharge Altman became interested in movies and moved to Hollywood in 1946. While there he tried his hand at acting, songwriting and screenwriting but found little success. He returned to his home in Kansas City where a company that made educational films hired him. After a few months of writing and editing, Altman was handed the director's chair and would eventually make over sixty instructional short films. Moving on to commercials, Altman finally got the call to come back to Hollywood in 1956 to direct an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. For the next decade he directed several episodes of television series, including Bonanza, and then a few low budget movies before he got his big break.

In 1969, Altman was sent the script for "MASH," which Altman accepted immediately. Producers later admitted they were desperate to get the film in production and finally offered the job to Altman because at least twenty other directors had turned it down. "MASH" went into production and Altman found that the studio was generally letting him do what he wanted as they had two big budget war films, "Patton" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" in production that they were watching more closely. Altman threw out most of Ring Lardner, Jr.'s script and freely allowed the cast to improvise. Altman originally conceived the film as an indictment on Vietnam but the studio forced Altman to include an opening credit that read "And then there was Korea." When Lardner won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, he freely admitted that no more then two pages of his entire script were left in the final film version. Altman brilliantly interweaved comic scenes with shocking scenes of operating room violence. 20th Century Fox was not pleased with the final results and released it with very little publicity. Strong reviews led to "MASH" becoming a smash hit and earned five Academy Award nominations including one for Best Picture. The movie spawned a hit television series starring Alan Alda that Altman despised. Whenever the show was mentioned he would refer to it with disdain as "that series." When asked about Fox's reluctance to release the movie, Altman replied, "MASH didn't get released by Fox, it escaped." Altman was on his way and many of Hollywood's top stars would be lining up to work with him.

Altman's next movie showed the world that he wasn't afraid to tackle oddball stories and characters even at the cost of a box office hit. "Brewster McCloud," (1971), told the story of a young man whose dream is to build wings and fly in the Houston Astrodome. The film was unusual and quirky to say the least, and failed at the box office. "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," (1971), starred Warren Beatty and Julie Christie in a western about a small time dreamer who opens a brothel. Altman's moody character piece was poetic and earned Christie an Academy Award nomination. Just as famous is the relationship between Altman and Beatty, who came to hate one another. Said Beatty, "If I had been the producer I would have killed him."

Altman's next three movies were almost completely overlooked by the general public. "Images," (1972), told the story of a woman trying to sort out her life while fantasy and reality images clash in her mind. "The Long Goodbye," (1973), starred an oddly cast Elliot Gould as Raymond Chandler's fictional detective Philip Marlowe in a modern update of the mystery novel. "Thieves Like Us," (1974), was about 3 criminals in the 1930's who go on a crime spree after escaping a prison camp.

Later in 1974, Altman created "California Split," which is now considered one of the most definitive films on gambling addiction. Elliot Gould and George Segal star as two compulsive gamblers who meet and become friends as each spirals downward with their addiction. Altman showed the lives of these two men and how it wasn't winning that made them feel good, but the rush of playing that was more satisfying.

In 1975, Altman made what is considered by many to be his masterpiece, "Nashville." The nearly three-hour epic told the stories of 24 different characters in Nashville, revolving around a political rally. Altman brilliantly weaved each story thread back and forth without ever losing sight of his characters. The film was a critical smash, receiving 5 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, but didn't perform well at the box office.

It was at this point that Altman was on top of the film world, but his continued desire to make quirky movies led to an almost two decade long series of box office failures despite the fact that some of these films are beloved by his fans. "Buffalo Bill and the Indians," (1976), featured a large cast including Paul Newman and Burt Lancaster, but critics were decidedly mixed and audiences (what few there were) found it tediously long. "3 Women," (1977), was another unconventional film that only Altman could make revolving around the lives of three women just trying to survive their oddball lives. "A Wedding," (1978) brought Altman back to "Nashville" territory as he weaved several story lines and multi-characters revolving around a large family wedding. This time Altman seemed to lose control of the material and the film disappointed most critics and the few audiences who saw it. 1979's "Quintet," starring Paul Newman, is an incomprehensible mess about a survival board game in a futuristic city. "Quintet" is the absolute nadir of Altman's great career. 1979's "Health" was Altman's multi-layered story of a group of characters at a Florida health convention. The film sat on the shelf for almost two years and then barely received theatrical release.

Perhaps believing he needed a box office hit, Altman's next film was 1980's "Popeye." Despite perfectly casting Robin Williams in the lead and Shelly Duvall as Olive Oyl, Altman's unconventional storytelling was a turn off to children, its intended audience, and the big budget musical-comedy was yet another flop.

The 1980's were not kind to Altman. Forging back and forth between television movies and theatrical movies, Altman's next seven films (Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean; Streamers; Secret Honor; Fool For Love; Beyond Therapy; O.C. and Stiggs; Vincent and Theo) were either barely released or bombed at the box office.

In 1992 Altman returned to top form with "The Player" starring Tim Robbins as a paranoid film executive who takes the law into his own hands when he is threatened by a would be screenwriter. "The Player" garnered some of Altman's best reviews and earned 3 Academy Award nominations. The next year came "Short Cuts," which returned Altman to "Nashville" territory with the many stories of unhappy lives in contemporary Los Angeles. For the second year in a row Altman was nominated for Best Director.

Altman's fortunes dipped again as he returned to the unconventional type of movie he most loved to make. "Ready To Wear," (1994), featuring an all-star cast, was Altman's indictment of the fashion world. "Kansas City," (1996), was a period piece about gangsters and the jazz age. Both films failed critically and commercially. 1998's "The Gingerbread Man," based on a John Grisham novel, was taken out of Altman's hands and re-edited. Those who have seen Altman's version say it is far superior to the released version but, sadly, movie fans will probably never see it. 1999's "Cookie's Fortune" is one of Altman's most underrated movies. A woman's death in a small southern town sets off a series of events that reveal the true nature of friends and family in this witty black comedy.

In 2000, Altman made "Dr. T and the Women" starring Richard Gere as a prominent gynecologist who reveres every woman in his life even though they are all virtually destroying him in one way or another. Only the staunchest of Altman fans seem to enjoy this dark comedy. 2001's "Gosford Park" was a murder mystery set at a castle in England and became Altman's biggest hit since "MASH," and garnered a Best Picture nomination and Altman's last for Best Director. In 2003 Altman's look at life in the Chicago ballet, "The Company," was not well received by critics or audiences.

This year came the last film in the storied career of Robert Altman. Based on the popular radio show by Garrison Keillor, "A Prairie Home Companion" tells the story of the last night of a popular radio show and the theater in which it is performed. The musical comedy featured a large cast including Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Virginia Madsen, Lindsay Lohan and Keillor himself. The film was critically praised but didn't perform well at the box office. For many, myself included, it is one of the best films of this year.

As awards season nears there has been mention that Altman might receive his sixth Best Director nomination for "Prairie." It would be something out of one of Altman's films if he were to be nominated and then win the award for the first time.

For Robert Altman, a brilliant filmmaker and under appreciated genius, that would be fitting. Once again he would have things his way.