Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman (/ˈɔːltmən/ AWLT-mən; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era. His most famous directorial achievements include M*A*S*H (1970), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973), Nashville (1975), 3 Women (1977), The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), Gosford Park (2001), and The Company (2003).
For other people named Robert Altman, see Robert Altman (disambiguation).
Robert Altman
November 20, 2006 (aged 81)
Filmmaker
1947–2006
M*A*S*H (1970)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Nashville (1975)
3 Women (1977)
The Player (1992)
Short Cuts (1993)
Gosford Park (2001)
The Company (2003)
6, including Stephen Altman
1943–1947
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Altman's style of filmmaking covered many genres, but usually with a "subversive" or "anti-Hollywood" twist which typically relied on satire and humor to express his personal views. Actors especially enjoyed working under his direction because he encouraged them to improvise. He preferred large ensemble casts for his films, and developed a multitrack recording technique which produced overlapping dialogue from multiple actors. This produced a more natural, more dynamic, and more complex experience for the viewer. He also used highly mobile camera work and zoom lenses to enhance the activity taking place on the screen. Critic Pauline Kael, writing about his directing style, said that Altman could "make film fireworks out of next to nothing."[1]
In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Altman's body of work with an Academy Honorary Award. He never won a competitive Oscar despite seven nominations. His films M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye and Nashville have been selected for the United States National Film Registry. Altman is one of three filmmakers whose films have won the Golden Bear at Berlin, the Golden Lion at Venice, and the Palme d'Or at Cannes (the other two being Henri-Georges Clouzot and Michelangelo Antonioni).
Early life[edit]
Altman was born on February 20, 1925, in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Helen (née Matthews), a Mayflower descendant from Nebraska, and Bernard Clement Altman, a wealthy insurance salesman and amateur gambler, who came from an upper-class family. Altman's ancestry was German, English and Irish;[2][3] his paternal grandfather, Frank Altman Sr., anglicized the spelling of the family name from "Altmann" to "Altman".[3] Altman had a Catholic upbringing,[4] but he did not continue to follow or practice the religion as an adult,[5] although he has been referred to as "a sort of Catholic" and a Catholic director.[4][6] He was educated at Jesuit schools, including Rockhurst High School, in Kansas City.[7] He graduated from Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri in 1943.
Soon after graduation, Altman joined the United States Army Air Forces at the age of 18. During World War II, Altman flew more than 50 bombing missions as a co-pilot of a B-24 Liberator with the 307th Bomb Group in Borneo and the Dutch East Indies.[8][9]
Upon his discharge in 1947, Altman moved to California. He worked in publicity for a company that had invented a tattooing machine to identify dogs. He entered filmmaking on a whim, selling a script to RKO for the 1948 picture Bodyguard, which he co-wrote with George W. George. Altman's immediate success encouraged him to move to New York City, where he attempted to forge a career as a writer. Having enjoyed little success, he returned to Kansas City in 1949; where he accepted a job as a director and writer of industrial films for the Calvin Company. Altman directed some 65 industrial films and documentaries for the Calvin Company. Through his early work on industrial films, Altman experimented with narrative technique and developed his characteristic use of overlapping dialogue. In February 2012, an early Calvin film directed by Altman, Modern Football (1951), was found by filmmaker Gary Huggins.[10][11]
Altman also had a career directing plays and operas parallel to his film career. While Altman was employed by the Calvin Company, he began directing plays at the Resident Theatre of the Jewish Community Center. These plays allowed him to work with local actors, such as fellow future director Richard C. Sarafian, whom he directed in a production of Richard Harrity's Hope Is the Thing with Feathers. Sarafian would later marry Altman's sister and follow him to Hollywood.[12]
Directing style and technique[edit]
Maverick and auteur[edit]
Following his successful career in television, Altman began his new career in the film industry when he was in middle-age. He understood the creative limits imposed by the television medium, and now set out to direct and write films which would express his personal visions about American society and Hollywood. His films would later be described as "auteuristic attacks" and "idiosyncratic variations" of traditional films, typically using subtle comedy or satire as a way of expressing his observations.[1]
His films were typically related to political, ideological, and personal subjects, and Altman was known for "refusing to compromise his own artistic vision."[26] He has been described as "anti-Hollywood," often ignoring the social pressures that affected others in the industry, which made it more difficult for him to get many of his films seen. He said his independence as a filmmaker helped him overall:
Influence[edit]
Directors who are influenced by Altman include Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Judd Apatow, Richard Linklater, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Noah Baumbach, David Gordon Green, the Safdie brothers, Harmony Korine, and Michael Winterbottom.[50][51] Altman gave several directors, including Alan Rudolph, Reza Badiyi, and Richard C. Sarafian, their starts in filmmaking.
Personal life[edit]
Family[edit]
Altman was married three times: His first wife was LaVonne Elmer. They were married from 1947 to 1949, and had a daughter, Christine. His second wife was Lotus Corelli. They were married from 1950 to 1955, and had two sons, Michael and Stephen. At fifteen, Michael wrote the lyrics to "Suicide Is Painless", the theme song to Altman's film, M*A*S*H. Stephen is a production designer who often worked with his father. Altman's third wife was Kathryn Reed. They were married from 1957 until his death in 2006. They had two sons, Robert and Matthew. Altman became the stepfather to Konni Reed when he married Kathryn.[52][53][54]
Kathryn Altman, who died in 2016, co-authored a book about Altman that was published in 2014.[55] She had served as a consultant and narrator for the 2014 documentary Altman, and had spoken at many retrospective screenings of her husband's films.[56]
Homes[edit]
In the 1960s, Altman lived for years in Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, California.[57] He resided in Malibu throughout the 1970s, but sold that home and the Lion's Gate production company in 1981. "I had no choice", he told The New York Times. "Nobody was answering the phone" after the flop of Popeye. He moved his family and business headquarters to New York City, but eventually moved back to Malibu, where he lived until his death.[58]
Political views[edit]
In November 2000, Altman claimed that he would move to Paris if George W. Bush were elected, but joked that he had meant Paris, Texas, when it came to pass. He noted that "the state would be better off if he (Bush) is out of it."[59] Altman was an outspoken marijuana user, and served as a member of the NORML advisory board.[60] He was also an atheist and an anti-war activist.[61] He was one of numerous public figures, including linguist Noam Chomsky and actress Susan Sarandon, who signed the "Not in Our Name" declaration opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[62][63] Julian Fellowes believes that Altman's anti-war and anti-Bush stance cost him the Best Director Oscar for Gosford Park.[32]: 478
Altman despised the television series M*A*S*H which followed his 1970 film, citing it as being the antithesis of what his movie was about, and citing its anti-war messages as being "racist". In the 2001 DVD commentary for M*A*S*H, he stated clearly the reasons for which he disapproved of the series.[64]