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

Suspect Zero

as Professor Dates (uncredited)

Shampoo

as Party Guest (uncredited)

The Pick-up Artist

as Stan

Salinger

as Self - Screenwriter

The Story of Film: An Odyssey

as Self

Last Woman on Earth

as Martin Joyce

Creature from the Haunted Sea

as Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator

A Decade Under the Influence

as Self

The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made

as Agent XK150 (archive footage)

The Zodiac Killer

as Man in Bar #3