On February 20th, 1925 in Kansas City, Mo, Robert Altman was born to B.C. (an insurance salesman) and Helen Altman. He entered St. Peters Catholic school at the age six, and spent a short time at a Catholic high school. From there he went to Rockhurst high school. It was then that he started exploring the art of exploring sound with the cheap tape recorders available at the time. He was then sent to Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, MO where he attended through Junior College. In 1945, he enlisted in the Air Force and became a copilot of a B-24. After his discharge from the military, he went to work for the Calvin Co. It was here (while working on documentaries, employee training films, and advertisements) that he learned much about film making. By 1955 he had left the Calvin Co. After a series of unnoticed independent films, he was given his first directoral break by Alfred Hitchcock. From here he went on to direct a large number of television shows, until he was offered the script for MASH (1970) in 1969. He was hardly the producer's first choice - more than fifteen other directors had already turned it down. This wasn't his first movie, but it was his first success.
Robert Altman