Altman Gets His Oscar

Maverick filmmaker Robert Altman will be presented with an Honorary Oscar at the 78th Annual Academy Awards.

Altman, who has worked as a director, writer and producer, has been nominated five times for the best directing Oscar — for "MASH," "Nashville," "The Player," "Short Cuts" and "Gosford Park" — but has never won. In addition, he has been nominated twice as a producer of best picture nominees "Nashville" and "Gosford Park."

The honorary award, voted by the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will be given to Altman to honor "a career that has repeatedly reinvented the art form and inspired filmmakers and audiences alike."

The prolific Altman has directed 86 films, produced 39 and written 37.

"The board was taken with Altman's innovation, his redefinition of genres, his invention of new ways of using the film medium and his reinvigoration of old ones," Academy president Sid Ganis said. "He is a master filmmaker and well deserves this honor."

Born in Kansas City, Mo., Altman began his film career in his hometown, working on documentary, employee training, industrial and educational films. He made his first feature film, "The Delinquents," a low-budget exploitation film distributed by United Artists, in 1957. He then moved to Hollywood, where he found work directing episodes of such television series as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "Bonanza." In 1969 he was offered the script of "MASH," and its critical and commercial success thrust him into the front ranks of feature directors.

Altman's films include such additional titles as "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," "The Long Goodbye," "Thieves Like Us," "Popeye" and "Pret-a-Porter." His next film, "A Prairie Home Companion," written by Garrison Keillor, is scheduled for release June 9 via Picturehouse.

The 78th Annual Academy Awards will take place March 5 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland and will be broadcast by ABC.