Title: Robert Altman Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1969-1972

Creator:

• Altman, Robert, 1925-2006

Call Number: U.S. Mss 135AN

Quantity: 1.2 c.f. (3 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
Contact Information

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Robert Altman, a well-known writer, producer, and director of motion pictures, consisting of files on five films released from 1970 to 1973: Brewster McCloud (MGM, 1970), Images (Columbia, 1972), The Long Goodbye (United Artists, 1973), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Warner Brothers, 1971), and M*A*S*H (20th Century-Fox, 1970). Present in varying quantities for these films are scripts, correspondence, production schedules and reports, and promotional material. One folder of general correspondence concerns script ideas and speaking engagements.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0135an

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Robert Altman, a motion picture and television director, producer, and writer, is most noted for his films M*A*S*H (Twentieth Century Fox, 1970), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Warner Brothers, 1971), Nashville (Paramount, 1975), The Player (Fine Line Features, 1992), Short Cuts (Fine Line Features, 1993), and Gosford Park (USA Films, 2001).

He was born in Kansas City, Missouri on February 20, 1925. Raised as a Roman Catholic, he attended Jesuit schools before studying mathematical engineering at the University of Missouri for several years. From 1943 to 1947 he served in the U.S. Army; during the war he flew B-24s on missions over Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. After his discharge in 1947, he returned to Kansas City and worked as a producer, director, writer, set designer, photographer, and film editor of industrial films for the Calvin Company.

Early in the 1950s Altman and Lou Lombardo, his cameraman at the Calvin Company, went to Hollywood where Altman sold several screen treatments and tried unsuccessfully to write for radio and magazines. He returned to Kansas City, which he left briefly once more to try to sell a film in Hollywood. In the mid-fifties Altman went to Hollywood for the third time, this time with The Delinquents, a film he had produced, directed, and written. Focusing on the problem of juvenile delinquency, this was his first feature length film and was released by United Artists in 1957. Later that year Warner Brothers released The James Dean Story, a feature length documentary produced and directed by Altman and George W. George.

For the next seven years Altman worked in television. He produced, directed, and wrote for such series as Bus Stop, Combat, The Roaring Twenties, Bonanza, and Kraft Mystery Theatre. One of his Bus Stop segments sparked some of the initial complaints about excessive violence in television. There were also complaints about an antiwar episode of Combat directed by Altman. Because of the restrictions placed on him and of the fear of losing his creativity in television, Altman quit the medium about 1964. For several years thereafter he was unemployed and in debt.

Returning to work in motion pictures, he directed Countdown (Warner Brothers, 1968) and That Cold Day in the Park (Commonwealth United, 1969) before M*A*S*H was released by Twentieth Century Fox in 1970. Altman directed this film after more than fourteen other directors had rejected it; for his labors, he was nominated for an Academy Award for best director. In addition, M*A*S*H was chosen the best film at the Cannes Film Festival and won the National Society of Film Critics award as the best film of 1970. Brewster McCloud, written and directed by Altman, was also released in 1970 by MGM. This was followed by McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Warner Brothers, 1971), directed and co-authored by Altman; and Images (Columbia, 1972), directed and written by Altman. Susannah York won the Cannes Film Festival award for best actress for her role in Images. Following that was The Long Goodbye, which Altman directed in 1972. All of these films were characterized by a “concern for emotional rather than literal accuracy.”

Altman continued to work in film, television, and theater until his death on November 20, 2006. He was married to the former Kathryn Reed, and had six children: Christine Westphal, Michael Altman, Stephen Altman, Connie Corriere, Robert Reed Altman, and Matthew Altman.

The Robert Altman Papers, 1969-1972, document the period of his success as a film director and screenwriter. The material includes general correspondence, scripts, and production material on the five films he has made since 1969.

The one folder of general correspondence, 1971-1972, concerns scripts he rejected, lecture requests, and requests for job recommendations. Arrangement is chronological.

The remainder of this three-box collection relates to his films; the material is arranged chronologically by release date. There is no record in this collection of his early career in films or in television; however, some information is available in the David Dortort Papers (U.S. Mss 112AN) on his work for the television series Bonanza.

For M*A*S*H there is correspondence concerning the film's rating and the revision of the script, scripts, and material on a UCLA cinema students' interview of Altman and their analysis of the film.

For Brewster McCloud the collection includes a production schedule, staff list, and daily production reports.

For McCabe and Mrs. Miller there is correspondence concerning screen credits, scripts, and financial information on transfer of equipment to and from location in Canada.

Documentation of script development for Images is extensive, and there is also one folder of general correspondence and one concerning the promotion of English and French language versions.

Correspondence concerning the script, a revised script, and five folders of production material relate to The Long Goodbye.

Contact the University of Michigan Library for information on the Robert Altman Archive.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Robert Altman, Los Angeles, California, December 14, 1972. Accession Number: MCHC72-126

Processing Information

Processed by SHR and Eleanor McKay, February 22, 1973.

U.S. Mss 135AN Box   1 Folder   1	General Correspondence, 1971 March - 1972 January
	Motion Pictures
	M*A*S*H (20th Century-Fox, 1970)
Box   1 Folder   2	Correspondence regarding rating of film and script, 1969 March - 1971 February
Box   1 Folder   3	Script, final draft, 1969 February 26
Box   1 Folder   4	Index to Revised Breakdown, scenes 1-153
Box   1 Folder   5	UCLA cinema students' interview and analysis of the film, 1970 March
	Brewster McCloud (MGM, 1970)
Box   1 Folder   6	Production schedule and staff list, 1970 May 12
Box   1 Folder   7	Daily production reports, 1970 May 22 - July 18
	McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Warner Brothers, 1971) Note: Originally titled “The Presbyterian Church Wager.”
Box   1 Folder   8	Correspondence regarding screen credits, 1970 September - 1971 March
Box   1 Folder   9	Script, first draft, 1969 December 7
	Lined script Note: See Box 1, Folder 10 for technical information on the nature and use of a lined script.
Box   1 Folder   10	Scenes 1-38
Box   1 Folder   11	Scenes 39-64
Box   1 Folder   12	Financial papers regarding equipment transfers to and from Canada, 1970 July - 1971 May
	Images (Columbia, 1972)
Box   2 Folder   1	Correspondence, 1971 October
	Scripts
Box   2 Folder   2	First draft, undated
Box   2 Folder   3	Second draft, 1968 March 12
Box   2 Folder   4	Third draft, undated
Box   2 Folder   5	Fourth draft, undated
Box   2 Folder   6	Fifth draft, undated
Box   2 Folder   7	Sixth draft, undated
Box   2 Folder   8	Seventh draft, undated
Box   2 Folder   9	Final draft, undated
	Lined script Note: See Box 1, Folder 10 for technical information on the nature and use of a lined script.
Box   2 Folder   10	Scenes 1-59
Box   2 Folder   11	Scenes 60-261
Box   2 Folder   12	Promotion
	The Long Goodbye
Box   3 Folder   1	Correspondence regarding script
Box   3 Folder   1	Script, revised, 1972 June 21
Box   3 Folder   2	Production information - daily log reports, 1972 June 15 - August 23
Box   3 Folder   3	Production reports, 1972 June 15 - August 23
Box   3 Folder   4	Production information - call sheets, 1972 June 15 - August 24
Box   3 Folder   5	Daily production reports, 1972 June 15 - August 24
Box   3 Folder   6	Production schedules, camera tests