Saw this on Reddit. I thought some of you fans here might find this short (but real) letter amusing.
http://i.imgur.com/HZvTVUG.jpg
Damn, I used to live on this street about two blocks away from him, and I never knew he lived there. The 1200 block of Bundy is the dividing line between West Los Angeles and Brentwood which is the difference between living in a more modest college student area and the wealthy. (Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered on this street about a half mile north of where Altman lived). Surprised that Altman lived on the more modest part of Bundy.
shareThat's really cool. And it's kinda crazy when you think about it. You were two blocks away from one of the most famous directors in the world. The local trash collectors, every week, would pass by your place and Robert Altman's, and pick up his bags. In a way, you were connected to him, albeit through waste disposal services.
shareYeah anyone that went to UCLA or lived near the campus would likely have been close to him too... it's a densely packed crowded area but a nice surprise as I thought he was a great director. A lot of old movie stars retired in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Santa Monica, Brentwood area which is mostly in a five square mile area near the campus.
shareOh I didn't know it was that close to UCLA. USC is also close by, right? I wonder if he ever stopped by to give a couple lectures, or met up with Francis Ford Coppola or George Lucas roaming nearby.
Any celebrity sightings while you were living there?
USC is about ten miles east near downtown Los Angeles. No one really goes there except students and local residents because it's near a pretty rough neighborhood. It's the same as New York in the sense that within a ten mile radius there are ultra wealthy and dirt poor although the main difference is that you drive everywhere in LA vs. walk and take the subway. I was born and have lived most of my life in L.A. so you'd see anyone from Jane Fonda to Arnold to Gena Rowlands to Kareem Abdul Jabbar... and I never went out looking for them. If you make the effort to go to hot spots you can see famous people all the time, but it's never been a priority of mine.
share"so you'd see anyone from Jane Fonda to Arnold to Gena Rowlands to Kareem Abdul Jabbar... and I never went out looking for them. If you make the effort to go to hot spots you can see famous people all the time, but it's never been a priority of mine."
Hah, that's still very cool. Just imagine seeing a random Kareem Adbul Jabbar appear from a store, or Arnold walking out of a coffee shop. I would imagine, after a while, it becomes normal to L.A. people to see these things, but for me and others, seeing Arnold or Jane Fonda would probably give me that temporary "star struck" feeling.
I only wish I could know what Nixon thought of it when he saw the film.
shareMe too. If anyone reading this knows, we'd love to hear what he thought of the film. His daughter does have great taste though!
Here's the Reddit thread if you wanted to read their comments.
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/62g73u/a_letter_from_richard_nixon_to_robert_altman/
They're saying in the comments that Altman disliked Nixon, but I don't know where they are getting it from, and whether this is just speculation on their part.