Robert Towne

Writing · Born 1934-11-23 in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA

Biography

Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz; November 23, 1934 - July 1, 2024) was an American screenwriter, producer, director and actor. He was part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974), which is widely considered one of the greatest screenplays ever written. He later said it was inspired by a chapter in Carey McWilliams's Southern California Country: An Island on the Land (1946) and a West magazine article on Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles. Towne also wrote the sequel, The Two Jakes (1990); the Hal Ashby comedy-dramas The Last Detail (1973) and Shampoo (1975); and the first two Mission: Impossible films. Towne directed the sports dramas Personal Best (1982) and Without Limits…

Filmography

• Creature from the Haunted Sea as Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator
• Last Woman on Earth as Martin Joyce
• Drive, He Said as Richard
• Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde' as Self
• Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That as Self
• Suspect Zero as Professor Dates (uncredited)
• Shampoo as Party Guest (uncredited)
• What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael as Self
• The Pick-up Artist as Stan
• The Zodiac Killer as Man in Bar #3

TV

• The Story of Film: An Odyssey as Self