Robert Towne
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).
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Acting
Movie
Suspect Zero
as Professor Dates (uncredited)
2004
Movie
Shampoo
as Party Guest (uncredited)
1975
Movie
The Pick-up Artist
as Stan
1987
Movie
Salinger
as Self - Screenwriter
2013
TV
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
as Self
2011
Movie
Last Woman on Earth
as Martin Joyce
1960
Movie
Creature from the Haunted Sea
as Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator
1961
Movie
A Decade Under the Influence
as Self
2003
Movie
The Zodiac Killer
as Man in Bar #3
1971
Movie
Drive, He Said
as Richard
1971
Movie
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
as Self
2019
Movie
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
as Self
2008
Movie
Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That
as Self
2005
Movie
Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde'
as Self
2008
Movie
Rescued from the Closet
as Self
2001
Movie
Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature
as Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown'
1997
Movie
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
as Self
1998
Movie
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film
as Self (uncredited)
2002
Movie
A Sad Flower in the Sand
as Self
2001
Movie
Robert Towne
Movie
Halloween Monster Bash
as Sparks Moran (archive footage)
1991
Crew
Movie
The Godfather
Story Editor
1972
Movie
Mission: Impossible
Screenplay
1996
Movie
Mission: Impossible II
Screenplay
2000
Movie
Chinatown
Writer
1974
Movie
The Firm
Screenplay
1993
Movie
Bonnie and Clyde
Additional Writing
1967
Movie
Days of Thunder
Screenplay
1990
TV
Mad Men
Consulting Producer
2007
Movie
Frantic
Additional Writing
1988
Movie
Tequila Sunrise
Screenplay
1988
Movie
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
Screenplay
1984
Movie
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Additional Writing
1971