Robert Altman filmography

Robert Altman was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era. His films are known for having satirical themes, unexpected quirks, with overlapping and improvised dialogue. He has deconstructed classic film genres like Westerns, crime dramas, musicals and classic whodunits. He has worked with frequent collaborators such as actors Shelley Duvall, Elliott Gould, René Auberjonois, Henry Gibson and Lily Tomlin. Over his career he received five Oscar nominations winning the Honorary Academy Award in 2005.

Altman made his directorial film debut with The Delinquents (1957) and gained his career breakthrough with war comedy M*A*S*H (1970) for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. Robert then earned critical acclaim for western drama McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), the musical film Nashville (1975), and the psychological thriller 3 Women (1977). During this time he also directed a string of counter cultural genre films such as the black comedy Brewster McCloud (1970), the neo-noir The Long Goodbye (1973), the comedy-drama California Split (1974), the crime film Thieves Like Us (1974), the revisionist western Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976), and the satirical comedy-drama A Wedding (1978).

He then directed the musical comedy Popeye (1980) which was a financial success but received a mixed reception. The films which followed become more sporadic with a career fluctuations. Roger Ebert stated of Altman's career that he "insisted on expressing a distinct personal vision that made him the hottest director of the 1970s but not the 1980s".^[1] During this time he directed the comedy-drama Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982), the play adaptation Streamers (1983), and the historical drama Secret Honor (1984). He received a career resurgence earning Academy Award for Best Director nominations for the Hollywood mystery The Player (1992), the dark comedy Short Cuts (1993), and the murder mystery Gosford Park (2001). He also directed Vincent & Theo (1990), Prêt-à-Porter (1994), The Company (2003), and A Prairie Home Companion (2006).

[1]

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
1948	Bodyguard	No	Story	No
1957	The James Dean Story^[a]	Yes	Yes	Yes
1957	The Delinquents	Yes	Yes	Yes
1967	Countdown	Yes	No	No
1969	That Cold Day in the Park	Yes	No	No
1970	MASH*	Yes	No	No
1970	Brewster McCloud	Yes	No	No
1971	McCabe & Mrs. Miller	Yes	Yes	No
1972	Images	Yes	Yes	No
1973	The Long Goodbye	Yes	No	No
1974	Thieves Like Us	Yes	Yes	No
1974	California Split	Yes	No	Yes
1975	Nashville	Yes	No	Yes
1976	Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson	Yes	Yes	Yes
1977	3 Women	Yes	Yes	Yes
1978	A Wedding	Yes	Yes	Yes
1979	Quintet	Yes	Yes	Yes
1979	A Perfect Couple	Yes	Yes	Yes
1980	HealtH	Yes	Yes	Yes
1980	Popeye	Yes	No	No
1982	Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean	Yes	No	No
1983	Streamers	Yes	No	Yes
1984	Secret Honor	Yes	No	Yes
1985	Fool for Love	Yes	No	No
1987	Beyond Therapy	Yes	Yes	No
1987	O.C. and Stiggs	Yes	No	Yes
1990	Vincent & Theo	Yes	No	No
1992	The Player	Yes	No	No
1993	Short Cuts	Yes	Yes	No
1994	Prêt-à-Porter	Yes	Yes	Yes
1996	Kansas City	Yes	Yes	Yes
1998	The Gingerbread Man	Yes	Yes^[b]	No
1999	Cookie's Fortune	Yes	No	Yes
2000	Dr. T & the Women	Yes	No	Yes
2001	Gosford Park	Yes	Idea	Yes
2003	The Company	Yes	No	Yes
2006	A Prairie Home Companion	Yes	No	Yes

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1947	The Secret Life of Walter Mitty	Man Drinking	Uncredited
1948	Bodyguard	Man Drinking	Uncredited
1970	Events	Bob
1973	The Long Goodbye	Ambulance Driver	Uncredited
1981	Endless Love	Hotel Manager

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Editor	Notes
1950	Honeymoon for Harriet	No	Yes	Yes
1952	The Sound of Bells	Yes	Yes	No
1952	King Basketball	Yes	Yes	No
1954	The Dirty Look	Yes	Yes	No
1955	The Perfect Crime	Yes	Yes	No
1955	Corn's-A-Poppin	No	Yes	No
1956	The Magic Bond	Yes	Yes	No
1964	The Party	Yes	No	No
1965	The Katherine Reed Story	Yes	No	No
1967	Pot au feu	Yes	No	No	Acting role: Player
1987	Les Boréades	Yes	Yes	Yes	Segment of Aria

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Editor
1951	Modern Football	Yes	Yes	Yes
1953	The Last Mile	Yes	Yes	No
	How To Run a Filling Station	Yes	Yes	No
	Modern Baseball	No	No	Yes
1954	Better Football	Yes	Yes	No
1954	The Builders	Yes	Yes	No

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1953	Pulse of the City	Yes	Yes	No	Episode "The Case of Capt. Denning"
1957–58	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Yes	No	No	Episodes "The Young One" and "Together"
1958	M Squad	Yes	No	No	Episode "Lover's Lane Killing"
1959	Hawaiian Eye	Yes	No	No	Episode "Three Tickets to Lani"
1958–59	The Millionaire	Yes	Yes	No	13 episodes
1958–59	Whirlybirds	Yes	No	No	20 episodes
1959–60	Sugarfoot	Yes	No	No	2 episodes
1959–60	Troubleshooters	Yes	Yes	No	14 episodes
1959–60	U.S. Marshal	Yes	No	No	15 episodes
1960	The Gale Storm Show	Yes	No	No	Episode "It's Magic"
	Bronco	Yes	No	No	Episode "The Mustangers"
	Maverick	Yes	Yes	No	Episode "Bolt from the Blue"
1960–61	The Roaring 20's	Yes	No	No	9 episodes
1960–61	Bonanza	Yes	No	No	8 episodes
1961	Lawman	Yes	No	No	Episode "The Robbery"
	Surfside 6	Yes	No	No	Episode "Thieves Among Honor"
	Peter Gunn	Yes	No	No	Episode "The Murder Bond"
	Route 66	Yes	No	No	Episode "Some of the People, Some of the Time"
1961–62	Bus Stop	Yes	Yes	No	8 episodes
1962	Cain's Hundred	Yes	No	No	Episode "The Left Side of Canada"
	Kraft Television Theatre	Yes	No	No	3 episodes
	The Gallant Men	Yes	No	No	Episode "Pilot"
1962–63	Combat!	Yes	Yes	Yes	10 episodes
1963–64	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Yes	Yes	Yes	3 episodes
1965	The Long, Hot Summer	Yes	No	No	Episode "The Long, Hot Summer"
1968	Premiere	Yes	Yes	Yes	Episode "Walk in the Sky"
1977	Saturday Night Live	Yes	No	No	Episode "Sissy Spacek/Richard Baskin" (Segment "Sissy's Role")
1988	Tanner '88	Yes	No	Executive	Miniseries
1993, 1997	Great Performances	Yes	Yes	Yes	Episodes "Black and Blue", "The Real McTeague: A Synthesis of Form", and "Jazz '34"
1993	Gun	Yes	No	Executive	Episode "All the President's Women"
1998	Killer App	Yes	No	No	Unaired pilot
2004	Tanner on Tanner	Yes	No	Executive	Miniseries

Robert Altman filmography

Features

Short film

Television

Theatre

Music video

Unrealized projects

References

Related Articles

Year	Title	Director	Producer
1964	Nightmare in Chicago	Yes	Yes
1982	Rattlesnake in a Cooler	Yes	Executive
1982	Precious Blood	Yes	Executive
1985	The Laundromat	Yes	No
1987	Basements: The Room / The Dumb Waiter	Yes	Yes
1988	The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial	Yes	Yes

Year	Title	Author	Venue	Ref.
1952	Hope Is the Thing with Feathers	Richard Harrity	Resident Theatre, Kansas City
1981	2 By South: Rattlesnake in a Cooler and Precious Blood	Frank South	Los Angeles Actors' Theater
1981		Frank South	St. Clement's Theater, New York City
1982	Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean	Ed Graczyk	Martin Beck Theater, Broadway	^[2]
1983	The Rake's Progress	Igor Stravinsky	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
1987	The Rake's Progress	Igor Stravinsky	Opéra de Lille, Lille
1992	McTeague	William Bolcom	Lyric Opera of Chicago, World premiere
2004	A Wedding	William Bolcom	Lyric Opera of Chicago, World premiere
2006	Resurrection Blues	Arthur Miller	Old Vic Theatre, London

Year	Title	Artist
1966	"Girl Talk"	Bobby Troup
	"The Party"	Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
	"Speak Low"	Lili St. Cyr
	"Ebb Tide"	Lili St. Cyr

Year	Title and description	Ref.
1960s	Death, Where is Thy Sting-a-ling-ling?, retitled from The Chicken and the Hawk	^[3]^[4]^[5]
1970s	The Extra, a film about Hollywood bit players starring Lily Tomlin	^[6]
	92 in the Shade	^[7]
	North Dallas Forty	^[8]
	A film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Breakfast of Champions written by Alan Rudolph starring Burt Lancaster	^[9]
	Ragtime	^[9]^[10]^[11]
	The Y.I.G. Epoxy, a film adaptation of Robert Grossbach's novel Easy and Hard Ways Out written by Alan Rudolph starring Peter Falk, Sterling Hayden and Henry Gibson	^[12]^[11]
1980s	Vicksburg, a drama set during the American Civil War	^[13]
	A film adaptation of James McLure's one-act play Lone Star starring Sigourney Weaver and Powers Boothe	^[14]^[15]^[16]
	The Smith County Widow, a "serious" comedy-mystery-farce starring Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen	^[15]
	A film adaptation of Marsha Norman's play The Holdup	^[17]
	A film adaptation of Jim Leonard, Jr.'s two-act play The Diviners starring William Hurt	^[17]^[18]
	A film adaptation of Thomas Berger's novel The Feud written by Jim Leonard, Jr.	^[19]
	Biarritz, a film set in a European hotel for wealthy vacationers written by Robert Harders starring Jon Voight	^[20]^[21]^[7]
	A film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel Across the River and Into the Trees written by Robert Harders starring Roy Scheider and Julie Christie	^[21]^[22]^[7]
	Heat	^[23]^[7]
	Nashville 12, a sequel to Nashville written by Robert Harders set twelve years later	^[22]^[7]
	Rossini! Rossini!	^[24]
1990s	A film adaptation of Tony Kushner's two-part play Angels in America	^[25]^[26]
	Cork, a film written by Harry Belafonte about subject of blackface and minstrel shows set in the era of Amos 'n' Andy	^[27]^[28]^[29]
	Mata Hari, a biopic written by David Williamson based on the life of Danish entertainer Mata Hari	^[26]
	The Singing Detective starring Dustin Hoffman	^[30]
	Stamp and Deliver, a "modern-day postal Western"	^[31]
	More Short Cuts, a sequel to Short Cuts written by Anne Rapp	^[32]
2000s	A film adaptation of Artie Shaw's unpublished autobiography The Education of Albie Snow starring Johnny Depp	^[33]^[34]
	Voltage, a film adaptation of Robert Grossbach's novel A Shortage of Engineers starring Liv Tyler, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, Joaquin Phoenix, William H. Macy, Tony Shalhoub, Harry Belafonte, Elliott Gould and Taye Diggs	^[35]^[36]^[37]
	Gambit	^[38]
	The Widow Claire, a "period romance" set during World War II starring Winona Rider, Jake Gyllenhaal and Matthew McConaughey	^[39]
	Paint, a film set in the New York art gallery scene starring Salma Hayek, James Franco and Glenn Close	^[40]^[41]
	An Unfinished Life	^[42]
	A film adaptation of Aesop's fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" written by Andrew Davies	^[41]
	It's Always Now, a sequel to The Long Goodbye based on an unpublished Raymond Chandler story	^[43]
	A fictionalized film version based on S. R. Bindler's 1997 documentary Hands on a Hardbody written by Stephen Harrigan starring Hilary Swank, Meryl Streep, Billy Bob Thornton, Jack Black, Jack White, Chris Rock, Dwayne Johnson, Lily Tomlin and Tommy Lee Jones	^[44]^[45]^[29]

v t e Robert Altman
Filmography Awards and nominations
Feature films	The Delinquents (1957) Countdown (1967) That Cold Day in the Park (1969) MASH* (1970) Brewster McCloud (1970) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) Images (1972) The Long Goodbye (1973) Thieves Like Us (1974) California Split (1974) Nashville (1975) Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) 3 Women (1977) A Wedding (1978) Quintet (1979) A Perfect Couple (1979) Health (1980) Popeye (1980) Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) Streamers (1983) Secret Honor (1984) Fool for Love (1985) Beyond Therapy (1987) O.C. and Stiggs (1987) Vincent & Theo (1990) The Player (1992) Short Cuts (1993) Prêt-à-Porter (1994) Kansas City (1996) The Gingerbread Man (1998) Cookie's Fortune (1999) Dr. T & the Women (2000) Gosford Park (2001) The Company (2003) A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Short films	Les Boréades (1987)
Documentaries	The James Dean Story (1957)
Television	Nightmare in Chicago (1964) The Laundromat (1985) Tanner '88 (1988) Tanner on Tanner (2004)
Related	Altman (2014)

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