Known For
Writing
Born
Nov 23, 1934
Died
Jul 01, 2024
Place of Birth
San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA
Credits
56 titles
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.
Known For
Filmography
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
Self
Salinger
Self - Screenwriter
Welcome to the Basement
Screenplay
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Self
Mission: Remarkable - 40 Years of Creating the Impossible
Self
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
Self
Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde'
Self
Mad Men
Consulting Producer
Ask the Dust
Screenplay
Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That
Self
Suspect Zero
Professor Dates (uncredited)
A Decade Under the Influence
Self
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film
Self (uncredited)
Rescued from the Closet
Self
A Sad Flower in the Sand
Self
Mission: Impossible II
Screenplay
Without Limits
Director
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
Self
Cadillac Desert
Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown'
Mission: Impossible
Screenplay
Love Affair
Screenplay
The Firm
Screenplay
Halloween Monster Bash
Sparks Moran (archive footage)
The Two Jakes
Writer
Days of Thunder
Screenplay
Tequila Sunrise
Director
Frantic
Additional Writing
The Pick-up Artist
Stan
Tough Guys Don't Dance
Additional Writing
The Bedroom Window
Executive Producer
8 Million Ways to Die
Additional Writing
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
Screenplay
Deal of the Century
Additional Writing
Personal Best
Director
Heaven Can Wait
Additional Writing
Shampoo
Party Guest (uncredited)
The Yakuza
Screenplay
Chinatown
Writer
The Parallax View
Additional Writing
The Last Detail
Screenplay
The New Centurions
Additional Writing
The Godfather
Story Editor
Cisco Pike
Additional Writing
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Additional Writing
Drive, He Said
Richard
The Zodiac Killer
Man in Bar #3
Villa Rides
Screenplay
Bonnie and Clyde
Additional Writing
The Tomb of Ligeia
Screenplay
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Writer