a few paragraphs from the Time obit ("x" implied)

 - michael

--
Altman's grandfather had been a boss at the Calvin Film Company, which
over the decades produced more than 3,000 educational and industrial
films; and young Bob got his start directing some 60 shorts for
companies like General Motors and DuPont. He had tried Hollywood right
after his war service (during which he co-piloted B-24 bombers), but
his only official work was an uncredited story gig on the 1947
Christmas Eve. "I'd go to California and try to write scripts," he
told Tibbetts, "but then return, broke, to Calvin. Each time they'd
drop me another notch in salary."

Hollywood was hardly more eager to recognize Altman's talents. A
quarter century passed between his first trip west and his breakout
film, MASH in 1970, when he turned 45. In between, he directed
hundreds of TV dramas and a few promising, thoughtful feature films.
His first, the science-fiction drama Countdown, got him fired off the
film and banned from the Warner Bros. lot. Studio boss Jack Warner,
Altman recalled, "had looked at the dailies and he said, 'That fool
has everybody talking at the same time!'"