Why did Altman want to write the book?
For money. Bob was a fantastic spender, and a terrible saver. The publisher offered enough money to turn his head. But deep down, he loved talking about the movies he made. What lessons did you learn from him? Never give up. One of the actors he worked with was Michael Murphy. Michael summed it up beautifully: “Bob was never defeated. Nothing could defeat this guy.” He was 45 before he had his first real success, with M*A*S*H. And then over the next 35 or so years, he had huge ups and crushing downs, but he just kept going. Other people would have crawled into a fetal position, given up, and you never would have heard from them again. He just kept plowing forward. In the 1970s this guy was on top of the world. He was one of the most powerful directors in Hollywood. But between alienating Hollywood, doing things his own way, and not delivering the kind of blockbusters Hollywood loves, they wrote him off. They were done with him by 1979. How did he make his way back? He spent the ’80s re
