(Photo: Getty Images/Hulton Archive)

4. Robert Altman
What a bittersweet year for this great, cantankerous, inimitable American director: an honorary Oscar, accompanied by a cheering, standing ovation; a lovely film (A Prairie Home Companion) with characteristic highs and lows but a vital comic force; and then, alas, sudden death at the age of 81. Good night, not-so-sweet sweet prince—and flights of Virginia Madsens sing thee to thy rest.