Director Robert Altman dies at 81

updated 2:50 p.m. ET Nov. 22, 2006

LOS ANGELES - Robert Altman, a five-time Academy Award nominee for best director whose vast, eclectic filmography ranged from the dark war comedy “M*A*S*H” to the Hollywood farce “The Player” to the British murder mystery “Gosford Park,” has died of complications from cancer. He was 81.

“He had lived and worked with the disease for the last 18 months, a period that included the making of his film ‘A Prairie Home Companion,”’ the director’s Sandcastle 5 Productions in New York said in a statement Tuesday. “His death was, nevertheless, a surprise: Altman was in pre-production on a film he had planned to start shooting in February.”

He died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, surrounded by his wife and children.

When he received a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2006, Altman revealed he’d had a heart transplant a decade earlier. “I didn’t make a big secret out of it, but I thought nobody would hire me again,” he said after the ceremony. “You know, there’s such a stigma about heart transplants, and there’s a lot of us out there.”

Altman was to begin work on “Hands on a Hardbody,” a fictionalized version of the documentary about a Texas contest in which people stand around a pickup truck with one hand the vehicle, and whoever lasts the longest wins it. The film would have been vintage Altman.

While he was famous for his outspokenness, which caused him to fall in and out of favor in Hollywood over his nearly six decades in the industry, he was perhaps even better known for his influential method of assembling large casts and weaving in and out of their story lines, using long tracking shots and intentionally having dialogue overlap.

‘Mr. Altman loved making movies’
His most recent example of this technique, “A Prairie Home Companion,” starred Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Kline and Lindsay Lohan.

“I feel as if I’ve just had the wind knocked out of me and my heart aches,” Lohan said Tuesday night in a lengthy e-mail statement. She added, “I learned so much from Altman and he was the closest thing to my father and grandfather that I really do believe I’ve had in several years.”

FREE VIDEO Loss of a legend Nov. 21: Filmmaker Robert Altman has died at 81, months after receiving a lifetime achievement Oscar. MSNBC.com's Dara Brown reports. msnbc.com

“Mr. Altman loved making movies. He loved the chaos of shooting and the sociability of the crew and actors — he adored actors — and he loved the editing room and he especially loved sitting in a screening room and watching the thing over and over with other people,” Keillor, who also wrote and co-starred in the film, told The Associated Press. “He didn’t care for the money end of things, he didn’t mind doing publicity, but when he was working he was in heaven.”

“He was very good at letting actors think that they had more control than they actually did,” said “Prairie Home Companion” co-star Tommy Lee Jones.

FREE VIDEO Altman dies Nov. 21: Director Robert Altman, best known for his films, "M*A*S*H", "Nashville," "Gosford Park," and, most recently, "A Prarie Home Companion," has died. NBC's Chris Clackum reports. NBC News Channel

“From a filmmaker’s point of view, he had a great many lessons to teach — presence of mind and relaxation around the camera and planning, preparedness,” Jones added.

Tim Robbins, who starred in the “The Player” and also appeared in “Short Cuts” and the fashion-world comedy “Pret-a-Porter,” described Altman as “a great friend and inspiration to me since I had the honor of meeting him in 1990. His unique vision and maverick sensibilities in filmmaking have inspired countless directors of my generation and will continue to inspire future filmmakers.”

Altman received best-director Oscar nominations for “M*A*S*H,” “Nashville,” “The Player,” “Short Cuts” and “Gosford Park.” No director ever got more nominations without winning a competitive Oscar, though four other men — Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Clarence Brown and King Vidor — tied with Altman at five.

‘A force of nature’
Despite his longevity and the many big-name stars who’ve appeared in his films, Altman famously bucked the studio system and was often critical of its executives. One of his best-received films, the insiderish “The Player,” follows the travails of a studio executive being blackmailed by a writer.

Levy / AP file Robert Altman and actress Shelley Duvall stroll along the Croisette Boulevard in Cannes, France, in May 1974. They were presenting their film "Thieves Like Us" at the Cannes International Film Festival.

But amid all those critical hits were several commercial duds including “The Gingerbread Man” in 1998, “Cookie’s Fortune” in 1999 and “Dr. T & the Women” in 2000. His reputation for arrogance and hard drinking — a habit he eventually gave up — hindered his efforts to raise money for his idiosyncratic films.

Julian Fellowes, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 2001’s “Gosford Park,” called the director “a force of nature.”

“A lifelong rebel, he managed to make the movie industry do his bidding, and there are very, very few people who can claim that. He altered both my career and my perceptions, vastly for the better, and no matter how long I live, I will die grateful to him.”

“M*A*S*H” star Elliot Gould said Altman’s legacy would “nurture and inspire filmmakers and artists for generations to come.”

“He was the last great American director in the tradition of John Ford,” Gould said. “He was my friend and I’ll always be grateful to him for the experience and opportunities he gave me.”

But it was Altman’s love of actors that came through over and over as Hollywood reacted to his death.

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