Legend Robert Altman dies age 81

 

"Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes."
Robert Altman

The man behind such diverse and acclaimed films as Shortcuts, M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs Miller, Nashville and Gosford Park - Robert Altman - has died in a Los Angeles hospital aged 81.

“Maybe there's a chance to get back to ... grown-up films. Anything that uses humor and dramatic values to deal with human emotions and gets down to what people are to people.”
Robert Altman

Biography from Wikipedia:

A late bloomer, Altman was a middle-aged TV director when he took over the reins of 1969's Korean war satire MASH, reportedly after 17 other directors had turned it down. The movie tapped into a groundswell of opposition to the war in Vietnam and became a mammoth hit. It also established the director's genius for loose-limbed narratives and multi-tracked sound recording; a kind of controlled chaos that caught the mood of a culture in flux.

Early life and career

Altman was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of wealthy insurance man/gambler Bernard Clement Altman (who came from an upper-class German-American family) and Helen Mathews, a Mayflower descendant of English and Scottish ancestry. His family was devoutly Catholic. Altman attended Rockhurst High School and Southwest High School in Kansas City, and was then sent to Wentworth Military Academy in nearby Lexington, Missouri, where he attended through junior college. In 1945, at the age of 20, Altman enlisted in the Army Air Forces and flew B-24 bombers during World War II. It had been while training for the Army Air Corps in California that Altman had first seen the bright lights of Hollywood and became enamored of the movieland. Upon his discharge in 1946, Altman began living in Los Angeles and tried out a number of schemes to position his foot firmly in Hollywood's door.

Altman tried acting briefly, appearing in a nightclub scene as an extra in the Danny Kaye vehicle The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. He then wrote a vague storyline (uncredited) for the United Artists picture Christmas Eve, and sold to RKO the script for the 1948 motion picture Bodyguard, which he co-wrote with Richard Fleischer. This sudden success encouraged Altman to move to the New York area and forge a career as a writer. There, Altman found a collaborator in George W. George, with whom he wrote numerous published and unpublished screenplays, musicals, novels, and magazine articles. Altman was not as successful this trip, but back in Hollywood, he tried out one more big money-making scheme. His pet care company soon went bankrupt, and in 1950 Altman returned to his friends and family in Kansas City, Missouri, broke and hungry for action, and itching for a second chance to get into movies.

Industrial film experience

Since there were no film schools, Altman joined the Calvin Company, the world's largest industrial film production company and 16mm film laboratory, headquartered in Kansas City. Altman, fascinated by the company and their equipment, started as a film writer, and within a few months began to direct films. This led to his employment at the Calvin Company as a film director for almost six years. Until 1955, Altman directed 60 to 65 industrial short films, earning $250 a week while simultaneously getting the necessary training and experience that he would need for a successful career in filmmaking. The ability to shoot rapidly on schedule and to work within the confines of both big and low budgets would serve him well later in his career. On the technical side, he learned all about "the tools of filmmaking": the camera, the boom mike, the lights, etc.

However, Altman soon tired of the industrial film format and sought more challenging projects. He occasionally went to Hollywood and tried to write scripts, but then returned months later, broke, to the Calvin Company. According to Altman, the Calvin people dropped him another notch in salary each time. The third time, the Calvin people declared at a staff meeting that if he left and came back one more time, they were not going to keep him.

First feature film

In 1955, Altman left the Calvin Company, not ever intending to return. He was soon hired by Elmer Rhoden Jr., a local Kansas City movie theater exhibitor, to write and direct a low-budget exploitation film on juvenile crime, titled The Delinquents, which would become his first feature film. Altman wrote the script in one week and filmed it with a budget of $63,000 on location in Kansas City in two weeks. Rhoden Jr. wanted the film to kick-start his career as a film producer. Altman wanted the film to be his ticket into the elusive Hollywood circles. The cast was made up of the local actors and actresses from community theater who also appeared in Calvin Company films, Altman family members, and three imported actors from Hollywood, including the future Billy Jack, Tom Laughlin. The crew was made up of Altman's former Calvin colleagues and friends with whom Altman planned to make his grand "Kansas City escape." In 1956, Altman and his assistant director Reza Badiyi left Kansas City for good to edit The Delinquents in Hollywood. The film was picked up for distribution for $150,000 by United Artists and released in 1957, grossing nearly $1,000,000.

Television work

The Delinquents was no runaway success, but it did catch the eye of Alfred Hitchcock, who was impressed and asked Altman to direct a few episodes of his Alfred Hitchcock Presents television series. From 1958 to 1964, Altman directed numerous episodes of television series, including Combat!, Bonanza, Whirlybirds and Route 66. One episode of Bus Stop which he directed was so controversial, due to an ending in which a killer is not apprehended or punished for his crime, that Congressional hearings were held, and the show was cancelled at the end of the season.

Film career continues

Altman then struggled for several years after quarreling with Jack Warner, and it was during this time that he first formed his "anti-Hollywood" opinions and entered a new stage of filmmaking. He did a few more feature films without any success, until 1969 when he was offered the script for MASH, which had previously been rejected by dozens of other directors. Altman directed the film, and it was a huge success, both with critics and at the box office. It was Altman's highest grossing film. Altman's career took firm hold with the success of MASH, and he followed it with many other similar experimental films, which made the distinctive "Altman style" well known.

As a director, Altman favors stories showing the interrelationships between several characters; he states that he is more interested in character motivation than in intricate plots. As such, he tends to sketch out only a basic plot for the film, referring to the screenplay as a "blueprint" for action, and allows his actors to improvise dialogue. This is one of the reasons Altman is known as an "actor's director," a reputation that helps him work with large casts of well-known actors.

He frequently allows the characters to talk over each other in such a way that it's impossible to make out what each of them are saying. He notes on the DVD commentary of McCabe & Mrs. Miller that he lets the dialogue overlap, as well as leaving some things in the plot for the audience to infer, because he wants the audience to pay attention. He uses a headset to make sure everything pertinent comes through without attention being drawn to it. Similarly, he tries to have his films rated R (by the MPAA rating system) so as to keep children out of his audience–he does not believe children have the patience his films require. This sometimes spawns conflict with movie studios, who do want children in the audience for increased revenues.

Altman made films when no other filmmaker and/or studio would. He was reluctant to make the original 1970 Korean War comedy MASH because of the pressures involved in filming it, but it still became a critical success. It would later inspire the long-running TV series of the same name.

In 1975, Altman made Paramount's Nashville, a semi-musical with a political theme set against the world of country music. The stars of the film wrote their own songs; Keith Carradine won an Academy Award for the song "I'm Easy".

The way Altman made his films initially didn't sit well with audiences. In 1976, he attempted to expand his artistic freedom by founding Lions Gate Films. The films he made for the company include A Wedding, 3 Women, and Quintet.

In 1980, he attempted a movie musical for Disney and Paramount, a live-action version of the comic strip/cartoon Popeye (which starred Robin Williams in his big-screen debut). The film was seen as a failure by some critics, but it should be noted that it did make money, and was in fact the second highest grossing film Altman directed to that point (Gosford Park is now the second highest). During the 1980's, Altman did a series of films, some well-received (the Richard Nixon drama Secret Honor) and some critically panned (O.C. & Stiggs). He also garnered a good deal of acclaim for his presidential campaign "mockumentary" Tanner '88, for which he earned an Emmy Award. Still, popularity with audiences continued to elude him.

Altman's career was suddenly revitalized when he directed 1992's The Player for New Line subsidiary Fine Line Features. A satire on Hollywood and its troubles, it was nominated for three Academy Awards, including one for Best Director. Although it did not win any awards, the film reminded Hollywood (which had shunned him for a decade) that Altman was as creative as ever.

After the success of The Player, Altman directed 1993's Short Cuts, an ambitious adaptation of several short stories by Raymond Carver, which portrayed the lives of various citizens of the city of Los Angeles over the course of several days. The film's large cast and intertwining of many different storylines harkened back to his 1970s heyday and earned Altman another Oscar nomination for best director. It was acclaimed as Altman's best film in decades^{[citation needed]}, and Altman himself considers this, along with Tanner '88, his most creative work^{[citation needed]}. 1998 brought The Gingerbread Man, critically praised although a commercial failure, and 1999 brought Cookie's Fortune, a critical success. In 2001, Altman's film Gosford Park gained a spot on many critics' lists of the ten best films of that year.

Working with independent studios such as Fine Line, Artisan (now Lions Gate, ironically the studio Altman helped to found), and USA Films (now Focus Features), gave Altman the edge in making the kinds of films he has always wanted to make without outside studio interference. Altman was still developing new projects up until his death, directing a movie version of Garrison Keillor's public radio series A Prairie Home Companion released in June 2006.

After five nominations for best director and no wins, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Altman an Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 2006. During his acceptance speech for this award, Altman revealed that he had received a heart transplant approximately ten or eleven years earlier. The director then quipped that perhaps the Academy had acted prematurely in recognizing the body of his work, as he felt like he might have four more decades of life ahead of him.

Death

Altman died in a Los Angeles hospital on the evening of November 20, 2006. He was 81 years old. [1][2]

Trivia

• Altman co-composed the hit single "Black Sheep" by country music recording artist John Anderson.

• He frequently singled out "Brewster McCloud" and "Tanner '88" as being his greatest works.

• He claimed that he would move to France if George W. Bush were re-elected, but he did not actually do so. He claimed later that he meant Paris, Texas because "the state would be better off if he (Bush) is out of it." [3]

• In the 1960s, Altman lived for nine years with his second wife in Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, California, according to author Peter Biskind in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (Touchstone Books, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1998).

• He was a member of the NORML advisory board.

 

Filmography (from IMDB)

Director - filmography

1. A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
2. Tanner on Tanner (2004) (TV)
3. The Company (2003)
   ... aka The Company - Das Ensemble (Germany)
4. Gosford Park (2001)
   ... aka Gosford Park (Germany) (Italy)
5. Dr T and the Women (2000)
   ... aka Dr. T and the Women (Germany) (USA: alternative spelling)
   
6. Cookie's Fortune (1999)
7. The Gingerbread Man (1998)
8. "Gun" (1997) TV Series
   ... aka Robert Altman's Gun
9. Kansas City (1996)
10. Jazz '34 (1996)
11. Prêt-à-Porter (1994)
    ... aka Prêt-à-Porter: Ready to Wear (Canada: English title)
    ... aka Ready to Wear
12. Short Cuts (1993)
13. The Real McTeague (1993) (TV)
14. Black and Blue (1993) (TV)
15. The Player (1992)
16. McTeague (1992) (TV)
17. Vincent & Theo (1990)
    ... aka Vincent et Théo (France)
    
18. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988) (TV)
19. "Tanner '88" (1988) (mini) TV Series
    ... aka Tanner: A Political Fable
20. Aria (1987) (segment "Les Boréades")
21. O.C. and Stiggs (1987)
22. Basements (1987) (TV)
23. Beyond Therapy (1987)
24. Fool for Love (1985)
25. The Laundromat (1985) (TV)
26. Secret Honor (1984)
    ... aka Lords of Treason
    ... aka Secret Honor: A Political Myth
    ... aka Secret Honor: The Last Testament of Richard M. Nixon
27. Streamers (1983)
28. Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
29. Rattlesnake in a Cooler (1982) (TV)
30. Precious Blood (1982) (TV)
31. Popeye (1980)
32. HealtH (1980)
    
33. A Perfect Couple (1979)
34. Quintet (1979)
35. A Wedding (1978)
36. 3 Women (1977)
    ... aka Robert Altman's 3 Women (USA: complete title)
    ... aka Three Women (USA)
37. "Saturday Night Live" (1 episode, 1977)
    ... aka SNL (USA: informal title)
    ... aka SNL 25 (USA)
        - Episode #2.16 (1977) TV Episode (segment "Sissy's Roles")
38. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)
    ... aka Buffalo Bill and the Indians
39. Nashville (1975)
40. California Split (1974)
    ... aka Jackpot!
41. Thieves Like Us (1974)
42. The Long Goodbye (1973)
43. Images (1972)
44. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
45. Brewster McCloud (1970)
46. MASH (1970)
    
    
47. That Cold Day in the Park (1969)
48. "Premiere" (1 episode, 1968)
        - Walk in the Sky (1968) TV Episode
49. Countdown (1968)
50. The Katherine Reed Story (1965)
51. Pot au feu (1965)
52. "The Long, Hot Summer" (1 episode, 1965)
        - The Long Hot Summer (1965) TV Episode
53. Nightmare in Chicago (1964) (TV)
    ... aka Once Upon a Savage Night
54. "Kraft Suspense Theatre" (3 episodes, 1963-1964)
        - Once Upon a Savage Knight (1964) TV Episode
        - The Hunt (1963) TV Episode
        - The Long, Lost Life of Edward Smalley (1963) TV Episode
55. "Combat!" (10 episodes, 1962-1963)
        - Survival (1963) TV Episode
        - Off Limits (1963) TV Episode
        - The Volunteer (1963) TV Episode
        - The Prisoner (1962) TV Episode
        - I Swear by Apollo (1962) TV Episode
          (5 more)
56. "The Gallant Men" (1 episode, 1962)
        - Pilot (1962) TV Episode
57. "Kraft Mystery Theater" (1 episode, 1962)
        - In Close Pursuit (1962) TV Episode
58. "Bus Stop" (8 episodes, 1961-1962)
        - County General (1962) TV Episode
        - Door Without a Key (1962) TV Episode
        - Summer Lightning (1962) TV Episode
        - ...And the Pursuit of Evil (1961) TV Episode
        - A Lion Walks Among Us (1961) TV Episode
          (3 more)
59. "Route 66" (1 episode, 1961)
        - Some of the People, Some of the Time (1961) TV Episode
60. "Bonanza" (8 episodes, 1960-1961)
    ... aka Ponderosa (USA: rerun title)
        - The Many Faces of Gideon Flinch (1961) TV Episode
        - Sam Hill (1961) TV Episode
        - The Dream Riders (1961) TV Episode
        - The Secret (1961) TV Episode
        - The Rival (1961) TV Episode
          (3 more)
61. "The Roaring 20's" (9 episodes, 1960-1961)
        - Standing Room Only (1961) TV Episode
        - Royal Tour (1961) TV Episode
        - Right Off the Boat: Part 2 (1961) TV Episode
        - Right Off the Boat: Part 1 (1961) TV Episode
        - Two a Day (1961) TV Episode
          (4 more)
62. "Surfside 6" (1 episode, 1961)
        - Thieves Among Honor (1961) TV Episode
63. "Lawman" (1 episode, 1961)
    ... aka The Lawman (USA: alternative title)
        - The Robbery (1961) TV Episode
64. "Maverick" (1 episode, 1960)
        - Bolt from the Blue (1960) TV Episode
65. "The Gale Storm Show" (1 episode, 1960)
    ... aka Oh! Susanna
        - It's Magic (1960) TV Episode
66. "Sugarfoot" (2 episodes, 1959-1960)
    ... aka Tenderfoot (UK)
        - The Highbinder (1960) TV Episode
        - Apollo with a Gun (1959) TV Episode
67. "U.S. Marshal" (2 episodes, 1959-1960)
        - The Triple Cross (1960) TV Episode
        - R.I.P. (1959) TV Episode
68. "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" (1 episode, 1960)
    ... aka Desilu Playhouse
        - The Sound of Murder (1960) TV Episode
    
69. "The Millionaire" (5 episodes, 1958-1959)
    ... aka If You Had a Million
        - Millionaire Jackson Greene (1959) TV Episode
        - Millionaire Lorraine Daggett (1959) TV Episode
        - Millionaire Henry Banning (1959) TV Episode
        - Millionaire Alicia Osante (1959) TV Episode
        - The Pete Hopper Story (1958) TV Episode
70. "Hawaiian Eye" (1 episode, 1959)
        - Three Tickets to Lani (1959) TV Episode
71. "Whirlybirds" (12 episodes, 1959)
    ... aka Copter Patrol (USA: syndication title)
        - The Big Lie (1959) TV Episode
        - The Challenge (1959) TV Episode
        - Experiment X-74 (1959) TV Episode
        - Guilty of Old Age (1959) TV Episode
        - A Matter of Trust (1959) TV Episode
          (7 more)
72. "Troubleshooters" (1959) TV Series
73. "Bronco" (1958) TV Series
74. "Peter Gunn" (1958) TV Series
75. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (2 episodes, 1957-1958)
        - Together (1958) TV Episode
        - The Young One (1957) TV Episode
76. The James Dean Story (1957)
77. The Delinquents (1957)
78. The Magic Bond (1956)
79. The Perfect Crime (1955)
80. The Builders (1954)
81. Better Football (1954)
82. The Dirty Look (1954)
83. The Last Mile (1953)
84. How to Run a Filling Station (1953)
85. The Sound of Bells (1952)
86. King Basketball (1952)
87. Modern Football (1951)
    
    

Producer - filmography

1. A Prairie Home Companion (2006) (producer)
2. The Company (2003) (producer)
   ... aka The Company - Das Ensemble (Germany)
3. Gosford Park (2001) (producer)
   ... aka Gosford Park (Germany) (Italy)
4. Roads and Bridges (2001) (executive producer)
5. Dr T and the Women (2000) (producer)
   ... aka Dr. T and the Women (Germany) (USA: alternative spelling)
6. Trixie (2000) (producer)
   
7. Cookie's Fortune (1999) (producer)
8. Liv (1998) (producer)
9. "Gun" (1997) TV Series (executive producer) (unknown episodes, 1997)
   ... aka Robert Altman's Gun
10. Afterglow (1997) (producer)
11. Kansas City (1996) (producer)
12. Jazz '34 (1996) (producer)
13. Prêt-à-Porter (1994) (producer)
    ... aka Prêt-à-Porter: Ready to Wear (Canada: English title)
    ... aka Ready to Wear
14. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) (producer)
    ... aka Mrs. Parker and the Round Table
    
15. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988) (TV) (producer)
16. "Tanner '88" (1988) (mini) TV Series (executive producer)
    ... aka Tanner: A Political Fable
17. O.C. and Stiggs (1987) (producer)
18. Basements (1987) (TV) (producer)
19. Secret Honor (1984) (producer)
    ... aka Lords of Treason
    ... aka Secret Honor: A Political Myth
    ... aka Secret Honor: The Last Testament of Richard M. Nixon
20. Streamers (1983) (producer)
21. Rattlesnake in a Cooler (1982) (TV) (executive producer)
22. HealtH (1980) (producer)
    
23. Rich Kids (1979) (executive producer)
24. A Perfect Couple (1979) (producer)
25. Quintet (1979) (producer)
26. A Wedding (1978) (producer)
27. Remember My Name (1978) (producer)
28. 3 Women (1977) (producer)
    ... aka Robert Altman's 3 Women (USA: complete title)
    ... aka Three Women (USA)
29. The Late Show (1977) (producer)
30. Welcome to L.A. (1976) (producer)
31. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) (producer)
    ... aka Buffalo Bill and the Indians
32. Nashville (1975) (producer)
33. California Split (1974) (producer)
    ... aka Jackpot!
    
34. "Premiere" (producer) (1 episode, 1968)
        - Walk in the Sky (1968) TV Episode (producer)
35. Nightmare in Chicago (1964) (TV) (producer)
    ... aka Once Upon a Savage Night
36. "Combat!" (producer) (3 episodes, 1962)
        - The Prisoner (1962) TV Episode (producer) (uncredited)
        - Cat and Mouse (1962) TV Episode (producer)
        - Escape to Nowhere (1962) TV Episode (producer) (uncredited)
    
37. The James Dean Story (1957) (producer)
38. The Delinquents (1957) (producer)
    
    

Writer - filmography

1. Gosford Park (2001) (idea)
   ... aka Gosford Park (Germany) (Italy)
   
2. Kansas City (1996) (written by)
3. Prêt-à-Porter (1994) (written by)
   ... aka Prêt-à-Porter: Ready to Wear (Canada: English title)
   ... aka Ready to Wear
4. Short Cuts (1993) (screenplay)
5. The Real McTeague (1993) (TV) (libretto)
6. McTeague (1992) (TV) (libretto)
   
7. Aria (1987) (segment "Les Boréades")
8. Beyond Therapy (1987) (screenplay)
9. HealtH (1980) (written by)
   
10. A Perfect Couple (1979) (written by)
11. Quintet (1979) (screenplay) (story)
12. A Wedding (1978) (screenplay) (story)
13. 3 Women (1977) (written by)
    ... aka Robert Altman's 3 Women (USA: complete title)
    ... aka Three Women (USA)
14. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) (screenplay)
    ... aka Buffalo Bill and the Indians
15. Thieves Like Us (1974) (screenplay)
16. Images (1972) (written by)
17. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) (screenplay)
    
18. "Premiere" (1 episode, 1968)
        - Walk in the Sky (1968) TV Episode (story)
19. "Kraft Suspense Theatre" (2 episodes, 1963)
        - The Hunt (1963) TV Episode (story)
        - The Long, Lost Life of Edward Smalley (1963) TV Episode (writer)
20. "Combat!" (1 episode, 1962)
        - Cat and Mouse (1962) TV Episode
21. "Bus Stop" (1 episode, 1962)
        - Door Without a Key (1962) TV Episode (story)
22. "Maverick" (1 episode, 1960)
        - Bolt from the Blue (1960) TV Episode
    
23. "The Millionaire" (2 episodes, 1959)
    ... aka If You Had a Million
        - Millionaire Andrew C. Cooley (1959) TV Episode
        - Millionaire Alicia Osante (1959) TV Episode
24. The Delinquents (1957)
25. The Magic Bond (1956)
26. The Perfect Crime (1955)
27. The Builders (1954)
28. The Dirty Look (1954)
29. Better Football (1954)
30. How to Run a Filling Station (1953)
31. The Last Mile (1953)
32. "The Pulse of the City" (1953) TV Series (creator)
33. The Sound of Bells (1952)
34. King Basketball (1952)
35. Corn's-A-Poppin' (1951)
36. Modern Football (1951)
    
37. Bodyguard (1948) (story) (as Robert B. Altman)
38. Christmas Eve (1947) (uncredited)
    ... aka Sinner's Holiday (USA: reissue title)
    
    

Miscellaneous Crew - filmography

1. The Making of 'Gosford Park' (2001) (TV) (special thanks)
2. Gosford Park (2001) (lyricist: "The Way It's Meant to Be")
   ... aka Gosford Park (Germany) (Italy)
3. Panic (2000) (special thanks)
   
4. Big Night (1996) (special thanks)
5. The Real McTeague (1993) (TV) (creative supervisor)
6. McTeague (1992) (TV) (opera director)
   
7. HealtH (1980) (lyricist: "Chick and Thin")
   
8. Nashville (1975) (lyricist)
   
9. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) (dialogue supervisor)
   

Editor - filmography

1. Aria (1987) (segment "Lieux desoles")
   
2. The James Dean Story (1957)
3. Honeymoon for Harriet (1954)
4. Modern Baseball (1953)
   
   

Actor - filmography

1. Endless Love (1981) .... Hotel Manager
   
2. Events (1970) .... Bob
   
3. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) (uncredited) .... Man Drinking
   
   

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director - filmography

1. Peking Encounter (1981) (TV) (additional photography director)
   
2. The Happening (1967) (second unit director) (uncredited)
   
   

Production Manager - filmography

1. Best of Friends (1987) (TV) (unit manager)
   
   

Self - filmography

1. "HBO First Look" .... Himself (1 episode, 2006)
       - The Making of 'A Prairie Home Companion' (2006) TV Episode .... Himself
2. Developing the World of 'Quintet' (2006) (V) .... Himself
3. Perspective on Altman's 'Perfect Couple' (2006) (V) .... Himself
4. A Wedding: Altman Style (2006) (V) .... Himself
5. The 78th Annual Academy Awards (2006) (TV) .... Himself - Honorary Award Recipient
6. Film as Fine Art (2005) (V) .... Himself
7. A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin (2005) .... Himself
8. "Biography" .... Himself (3 episodes, 2002-2004)
       - Richard Gere (2004) TV Episode .... Himself
       - Julianne Moore (2004) TV Episode .... Himself
       - Tim Robbins: Playing from the Heart (2002) TV Episode .... Himself
9. Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV) .... Himself
10. Fool for Love: Art and Soul (2004) (V) .... Himself
11. Épreuves d'artistes (2004) .... Himself
    ... aka Words in Progress (International: English title)
12. Behind the Scenes: Tanner on Tanner (2004) (V) .... Himself
13. A Decade Under the Influence (2003) .... Himself
14. The Long Goodbye: Rip Van Marlowe (2002) (V) .... Himself
15. "+ de cinéma" .... Himself (1 episode, 2002)
        - Episode dated 20 March 2002 (2002) TV Episode .... Himself
16. A Salute to Robert Altman, an American Maverick (2002) (TV) .... Himself
17. "Omnibus" .... Himself (1 episode, 2002)
        - Robert Altman in England (2002) TV Episode .... Himself
18. Still Cher (2002) (TV) .... Himself
19. The Making of 'Gosford Park' (2001) (TV) .... Himself
20. "Anatomy of a Scene" .... Himself (1 episode)
        - Gosford Park (????) TV Episode .... Himself
21. The Orange British Academy Film Awards (2001) (TV) .... Himself
22. The Truth as I Know It (2001) (V) .... Himself
23. The Making of 'Dr. T and the Women' (2001) (V) .... Himself
24. Intimate Portrait: Lee Grant (2001) (TV) .... Himself
25. A Conversation with Robert Altman (2000) (V) .... Himself
26. Altman on His Own Terms (2000) (TV) .... Himself
27. Enlisted: The Story of 'M*A*S*H' (2000) (V) .... Himself
28. Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years (2000) (TV) .... Himself
    
29. Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (1999) (TV) .... Himself
    ... aka Dial H Hitchcock: The Genius Behind the Showman
    ... aka Dial H for Hitchcock (Canada: English title)
30. "The Directors" .... Himself (1 episode)
        - The Films of Robert Altman (????) TV Episode .... Himself
31. Where Music Meets Film: Live from Sundance (1999) (TV) .... Himself
32. Film-Fest DVD: Issue 1 - Sundance (1999) (V) .... Himself
33. Frank Capra's American Dream (1997) (TV) .... Himself
34. One on One with Robert Altman (1993) (V) .... Himself
35. Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country (1993) .... Himself
    ... aka Luck, Trust and Ketchup (USA: short title)
36. "The South Bank Show" .... Himself (1 episode, 1990)
        - Robert Altman (1990) TV Episode .... Himself
    
37. Before the Nickelodeon: The Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982) .... Himself
    

 "To Play it Safe is Not To Play"
Rober Altman