He came up with a scheme to "Identi-Code" pets. He would tatoo a number on the cat or dog. Somehow, he managed to tatoo President Truman's dog.
He designed a watch called "Time to Reflect" for Swatch in 1995 to commemorate the centenary of the birth of cinema.
His son Mike Altman wrote the lyrics for "Suicide is Painless", the theme song for MASH, when he was only 14 years old.
Stepdaughter, Konni Corriere (with Reed), born 1946.
Son, Robert, with Reed, born 1960.
Son, Matthew, with Reed, adopted at birth in 1966.
Son, Stephen, with Corelli, born 1957.
Son, Michael, with Corelli, born 1955.
Daughter, Christine, with Elmer, born 1947.
Father of Stephen Altman
Was voted the 17th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 29-39. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.
Worked with (the late) Vic Morrow on the TV series Combat, with Vic's daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh in several films including Short Cuts, and with Vic's ex-wife (and Jennifer's mother) Barabra Turner on The Company.
Like the late Richard Hooker, author of the book MASH (on which his film was based), Altman greatly disliked the TV series that followed and said that it didn't make the same anti-war point that his film made.
Directed 6 different actresses in Oscar-nominated performances: Sally Kellerman, Julie Christie, Ronee Blakley, Lily Tomlin, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith.
Close friends with actress Julie Christie
While working on "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" him and Warren Beatty hated each other so much that Beatty later admitted that had he produced the film himself he would have killed Altman
He is a member of the NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) Advisory Board.
Robert Altman Detailed Biography
On February 20th, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri, Robert Altman was born to B.C. (an insurance salesman) and Helen Altman. He entered St. Peters Catholic school at the age six, and spent a short time at a Catholic high school. From there he went to Rockhurst high school. It was then that he started exploring the art of exploring sound with the cheap tape recorders available at the time. He was then sent to Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri where he attended through Junior College. In 1945, he enlisted in the Air Force and became a copilot of a B-24. After his discharge from the military, he went to work for the Calvin Co. It was here (while working on documentaries, employee training films, industrial and educational films, and advertisements) that he learned much about film making. He broke into the feature film while still at Calvin with Delinquents, The (1957), and by 1965 he had left the Calvin Co., traveling to Hollywood to direct Alfred Hitchcock's TV show. From here he went on to direct a large number of television shows, until he was offered the script for MASH (1970) in 1969. He was hardly the producer's first choice - more than fifteen other directors had already turned it down. This wasn't his first movie, but it was his first success. Since then a lot of his movies have been successful, although he has also directed his share of unsuccessful movies since then as well.
