Yesterday was the birthday of Ansel Adams, Kurt Cobain, and Robert Altman. In 2006 I was fortunate enough to spend an afternoon with Mr. Altman shortly before he left us. In memory of him please read his biography and check out the contact sheets attached. A photograph from the shoot was selected for American Photography that year, the book was released on the morning he passed.
It's the birthday of *Robert Altman* , born in Kansas City, Missouri (1925), the son of an insurance broker who loved to gamble. The boy was educated by the Jesuits and at the age of 18, he joined the Army Air Corp. During the course of World War II, he flew more than 50 missions on a B-24 bomber in Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. He studied engineering after the war, then moved to California and tried acting, screenwriting, and songwriting. He went back to Kansas City, got into industrial film production, made 60 of them for various clients, including a feature on how a self-service gas station works, and a film on highway safety. He made a low-budget feature of his own called /The Delinquents/, which didn't do well in theaters but it brought him to the attention of Alfred Hitchcock, who offered him the job of directing episodes of the /Alfred Hitchcock Presents/ television series. His breakthrough came when he was 45: the success of /M.A.S.H./ (1970) - a dark comedy about a medical unit in the Korean War, which had been turned down by dozens of other directors. It was a hit, and Altman's career took off with /McCabe and Mrs. Miller/ (1970), /The Long Goodbye/ (1973), and /Nashville/ (1975). Altman said, "Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes."
"It's Okay With Me: Robert Altman"
The Full interview by James Hughes
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