[4] During an acting appearance as a nurse in one of the television episodes of Whirlybirds in 1959, Kathryn Reed met the American film director Robert Altman, who was directing the series at that time.
Robert had three children from his previous two marriages: a daughter and two sons, Christine, Stephan, and Michael.
[5] Altman continued to be very active well after her husband's death and became a featured speaker at various retrospectives of his work;[1] attending special screenings in London, Venice, New York City and Los Angeles.
She later presented these originals to the University of Michigan and the materials became the Robert Altman Collection;[1] thereby safeguarding the artistic legacy of her husband as well as her own.
"[10] Altman supported several of the University of California, Los Angeles archive projects, including a 2014 retrospective and two film restorations.
She also donated her husband's private film collection to the UCLA Robert Altman Archive.