Robert Altman - Personal Life

Personal Life

In the 1960s, Altman lived for nine years with his second wife in Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, California. He moved to Malibu but in 1981 sold that home and the Lion's Gate production company. "I had no choice", he told the New York Times. "Nobody was answering the phone" after the flop of Popeye. He moved his family and business headquarters to New York, but eventually moved back to Malibu, where he lived until his death.

In November 2000, he claimed that he would move to Paris if George W. Bush were elected, but joked that he had meant Paris, Texas when it came to pass. He noted that "the state would be better off if he (Bush) is out of it." Altman was an outspoken marijuana user, and served as a member of the NORML advisory board. He was one of numerous notable public figures, including the linguist Noam Chomsky and the actress Susan Sarandon, who signed the "Not In My Name" declaration opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq.