Robert Towne
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 (1998), the crime thriller Tequila Sunrise (1988), and the romantic crime drama Ask the Dust (2006). Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Towne, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (45)
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
as Self
2019
Salinger
as Self - Screenwriter
2013
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
as Self
2008
Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde'
as Self
2008
Ask the Dust
Director (Directing)
2006
Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That
as Self
2005
Suspect Zero
as Professor Dates (uncredited)
2004
A Decade Under the Influence
as Self
2003
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film
as Self (uncredited)
2002
Rescued from the Closet
as Self
2001
A Sad Flower in the Sand
as Self
2001
Mission: Impossible II
Screenplay (Writing)
2000
Without Limits
Writer (Writing)
1998
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
as Self
1998
Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature
as Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown'
1997
Mission: Impossible
Screenplay (Writing)
1996
Love Affair
Screenplay (Writing)
1994
The Firm
Screenplay (Writing)
1993
The Two Jakes
Writer (Writing)
1990
Days of Thunder
Screenplay (Writing)
1990
Tequila Sunrise
Screenplay (Writing)
1988
Frantic
Additional Writing (Crew)
1988
The Pick-up Artist
as Stan
1987
Tough Guys Don't Dance
Additional Writing (Crew)
1987
The Bedroom Window
Executive Producer (Production)
1987
8 Million Ways to Die
Additional Writing (Crew)
1986
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
Writer (Writing)
1984
Deal of the Century
Additional Writing (Crew)
1983
Personal Best
Director (Directing)
1982
Heaven Can Wait
Additional Writing (Crew)
1978
Shampoo
as Party Guest (uncredited)
1975
The Yakuza
Screenplay (Writing)
1974
Chinatown
Writer (Writing)
1974
The Parallax View
Additional Writing (Crew)
1974
The Last Detail
Screenplay (Writing)
1973
The New Centurions
Additional Writing (Crew)
1972
Cisco Pike
Additional Writing (Crew)
1971
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Additional Writing (Crew)
1971
Drive, He Said
as Richard
1971
The Zodiac Killer
as Man in Bar #3
1971
Villa Rides
Screenplay (Writing)
1968
Bonnie and Clyde
Additional Writing (Crew)
1967
The Tomb of Ligeia
Screenplay (Writing)
1964
Creature from the Haunted Sea
as Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator
1961
Last Woman on Earth
as Martin Joyce
1960
