Personal Info
Known For:
Writing
Birthday:
November 23, 1934
Place of Birth:
San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA
Social Media
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).
Known For
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael | Self |
| 2013 | Salinger | Self - Screenwriter |
| 2008 | Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde' | Self |
| 2008 | You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story | Self |
| 2005 | Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That | Self |
| 2004 | Suspect Zero | Professor Dates (uncredited) |
| 2004 | The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made | Agent XK150 (archive footage) |
| 2003 | A Decade Under the Influence | Self |
| 2002 | Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film | Self (uncredited) |
| 2001 | A Sad Flower in the Sand | Self |
| 2001 | Rescued from the Closet | Self |
| 1998 | Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy | Self |
| 1997 | Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature | Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown' |
| 1987 | The Pick-up Artist | Stan |
| 1975 | Shampoo | Party Guest (uncredited) |
| 1971 | Drive, He Said | Richard |
| 1971 | The Zodiac Killer | Man in Bar #3 |
| 1961 | Creature from the Haunted Sea | Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator |
| 1960 | Last Woman on Earth | Martin Joyce |
| Year | TV Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | The Story of Film: An Odyssey | Self |