Legendary Film and Theatre Director Robert Altman Dies at 81

Legendary director Robert Altman has died at the age of 81.

Altman, who received a Lifetime Achievement Oscar early this year, passed away on Monday, November 20th in a Los Angeles hospital. He died of complications from cancer.

Altman was a five-time Oscar-nominee for directing Gosford Park, Short Cuts, The Player, Nashville, and MASH.  He made his feature film debut in 1957 with The Delinquents; his last film was A Prairie Home Companion, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, among others.

Acclaimed for films interweaving diverse characters and stories, the maverick director was born on February 20, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri.  After serving in WWII and studying engineering, Altman embarked on a career as a filmmaker.  His first films were industrials, and he later worked in the TV industry before MASH brought him widespread acclaim.

Altman's many other films included The Company, Cookie's Fortune, Vincent and Theo, Popeye, A Wedding, Three Women, The Long Goodbye, McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Brewster McCloud.

Altman also occasionally worked in the theatre.  He most recently helmed a star-studded production of the Arthur Miller satire Resurrection Blues in London.  He also directed the 1982 Broadway show Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.  Starring Cher, Kathy Bates and more, it was later turned into a film.  

Altman directed film versions of the stage hits Streamers (by David Rabe), Fool for Love (by Sam Shepard) and Beyond Therapy (by Christopher Durang), among others.

He is survived by third wife Kathryn Reed, whom he married in 1959, as well as by five children.