Robert Altman

The Oral Biography

By: Mitchell Zuckoff

Narrated by: Various

Robert Altman—visionary director, hard-partying hedonist, eccentric family man, Hollywood legend—comes roaring to life in this rollicking cinematic biography, told in a chorus of voices that can only be called Altmanesque.

His outsized life and unique career are revealed as never before: here are the words of his family and friends, and a few enemies, as well as the agents, writers, crew members, producers, and stars who worked with him, including Meryl Streep, Warren Beatty, Tim Robbins, Julianne Moore, Paul Newman, Julie Christie, Elliott Gould, Martin Scorsese, Robin Williams, Cher, and many others. There is even Altman himself, in the form of his exclusive last interviews.

After an all-American boyhood in Kansas City, a stint flying bombers through enemy fire in World War II, and jobs ranging from dog-tattoo entrepreneur to television director, Robert Altman burst onto the scene in 1970 with the movie M*A*S*H. He revolutionized American filmmaking, and, in a decade, produced masterpieces at an astonishing pace: McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us, The Long Goodbye, 3 Women, and, of course, Nashville. Then, after a period of disillusionment with Hollywood—as well as Hollywood’s disillusionment with him—he reinvented himself with a bold new set of masterworks: The Player, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park. Finally, just before the release of the last of his nearly forty movies, A Prairie Home Companion, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement from the Academy, which had snubbed him for so many years.

Mitchell Zuckoff—who was working with Altman on his memoirs before he died—weaves Altman’s final interviews, an incredible cast of voices, and contemporary reviews and news accounts, into a riveting tale of an extraordinary life. Here are page after page of revelations that force us to reevaluate Altman as a man and an artist, and to view his sprawling narratives with large casts, multiple story lines, and overlapping dialogue as unquestionably the work of a modern genius.©2009 Mitchell Zuckoff; (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

“A big, comprehensive, flesh-and-blood account of Altman’s persona and exploits. . . . [A] sprawling, many-faceted story.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Quite special. . . . This is a smart, amusing, lively book, full of anecdotes and a generous step towards perceiving the glorious and perverse ways of Altman himself. . . . We owe him plenty.” —David Thomson, The New Republic

“Invaluable, ingenious and formally unique. . . . Sprawling, cacophonous, contradictory, loopy, laugh-out-loud funny. . . . Something that resembles an Altman film. . . . Altman, that bearded bastard, would have loved it.” —David Fear, Time Out New York

“I just now put [Robert Altman: The Oral Biography] down feeling heartbroken but happily and deeply inspired. . . . Wonderful.” —Wes Anderson

“Zuckoff’s biography is like his subject’s movies, filled with a multiplicity of voices and averse to defining ‘meaning.’ Yet in the end, readers understand Altman’s stubborn vision, his refusal to compromise with commerce, and his hard-earned, eccentric genius.” —Chuck Leddy, The Boston Globe

“[Zuckoff] uses a light editorial hand, allowing a wide range of contributors to have their say. . . . A comprehensive, 360-degree look at a complicated subject.” —Toby Young, Wall Street Journal

“A positively ‘Altmanesque’ treatment. . . . [Altman] made a great Western, a great anti-war movie, a great period piece, a great detective picture, a great ballet movie and the how-Hollywood-works movie. And Zuckoff . . . is an apt choice to corner an old fast-talker like Altman.” —Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

“[There are] many surprising and revealing comments that Zuckoff has assembled in his fittingly rambling book. . . . Life is complicated, often messy—as Altman showed us—and his life, as seen in Zuckoff’s book, was no exception.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“[A] fitting tribute to one of Hollywood’s greatest directors. . . . A rebel to the end, Altman’s spirit is perfectly captured in this fascinating read.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“An engrossing, comprehensive book that gives invaluable insight into the life and work of a truly original artist.” —Kirkus Reviews

A great book to read NOT listen to

Beware: this book may be based on recorded interviews BUT these interviews are not what you'll hear: you'll hear people--in most cases not the original interviewees--READING the transcripts of the interviews.

This creates a very disturbing feeling as you listen on: while the grammar is oral, the words are clearly read, not spoken. It's a disaster. Presumably retrieving and using the original interviews was not possible, but the result is that you should probably READ this book, as the experience of listening to it may be, as it was for me, unnerving.

The book itself is quite fascinating. It might be shooting in many directions sometimes, but the choice of creating a complex, multifaceted portrait through many, sometimes contradictory points of view, is great and does Altman justice.

Terrific overview of a life and career well-led

It's ironic that one of the three ways to rate this book is on story, since Altman disdained story and focused on characters. This is an enjoyable cubistic portrait of a great character, with a unique filmmaking method And the requisite fascinating anecdotes.

Complex and interesting

Provides a unique and fair view of an amazing, influential and often underrated film director

Great listen

I thought this was a wonderful book. Altman seems like a character in one of his movies. Ok, he is not a very attentive father and he has drinking problems, but he seems to have had a great time doing mostly just what he wanted. It was nice to hear the different opinions of him from the people he worked with and around. Narration is good, Not a good listen for children -- some strong language and some discussion of affairs. Now I will have to watch his movies again!

Where are the Pictures?

This is an interesting and informative book. However, the hard back book contains hundreds of pictures. The biggest challenge that I have with audio books do not include a document or an Adobe file to download with the pictures included in the book. This is a big drawback for me as a long time subscriber, which needs to be resolved to compete with the all the downloadable book options available to keep subscribers like myself in the future. I hope they find a resolution to this problem. I have seen these files available for very few of the books, however there are some.

Enjoyable book and some of the personal information jumps around so it is hard to follow, entertaining.