Robert Altman Is Dead

(New York Times) Robert Altman, the director of MASH, Nashville, and Gosford Park, died Monday. He was 81. His death, at Ceder Sinai Medical Center, was caused by complications from cancer, according to a statement made by his production company, New York based Sandcastle 5 Productions.

Mr. Altman's breakthrough film, MASH, astounded audiences with its blend of a counter-cultural ethos, a free-wheeling picaresque narrative, and a multi-tracked sound system. The apotheosis of this style would culminate in his 1975 film, Nashville, in which a constellation of ascending Hollywood stars, playing a motley assortment of lonely hearts, whirled in an improvisational style of muddled dialogue and frenetic pacing that captured the events leading up to a presidential primary. However, Mr. Altman would never re-capture the same critical acclaim and box office success he achieved with MASH, his career descending to its nadir with the release of Popeye, an unfortunate musical starring Robin Williams.

Mr. Altman though made a comeback with two movies in the 1990s, The Player, detailing the travails of a ruthless Hollywood executive, and Short Cuts, an episodic film about Los Angelenos based loosely on the short stories of Raymond Carver. His career continued well into the new millenium with his release of Gosford Park, a film that echoed the piece de resistance of Jean Renoir's inimitable oeuvre, La Regle du jeu, which Mr. Altman referred to as the film in which he learned "the rules of the game."

Mr. Altman was often referred to as a "cult director," an appellation that apparently rankled him. "What is a cult." he once said. "It just means not enough people to make a minority."

The obit is here.