Robert Towne
Born: 1934-11-23 in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA
Died: 2024-07-01
Known For: Writing
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.
Filmography
2019
2013
- Salinger as Self - Screenwriter
2012
- Welcome to the Basement ... (Screenplay)
2011
- The Story of Film: An Odyssey as Self
2008
2007
- Mad Men ... (Consulting Producer)
2006
- Ask the Dust ... (Screenplay)
2005
2004
- Suspect Zero as Professor Dates (uncredited)
2003
- A Decade Under the Influence as Self
2002
- Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film as Self (uncredited)
2001
- Rescued from the Closet as Self
- A Sad Flower in the Sand as Self
2000
- Mission: Impossible II ... (Screenplay)
1998
- Without Limits ... (Writer)
- Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy as Self
1997
- Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature as Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown'
1996
- Mission: Impossible ... (Screenplay)
1994
- Love Affair ... (Screenplay)
1993
- The Firm ... (Screenplay)
1991
- Halloween Monster Bash as Sparks Moran (archive footage)
1990
- Days of Thunder ... (Screenplay)
- The Two Jakes ... (Writer)
1988
- Tequila Sunrise ... (Screenplay)
- Frantic ... (Additional Writing)
1987
- The Bedroom Window ... (Executive Producer)
- The Pick-up Artist as Stan
- Tough Guys Don't Dance ... (Additional Writing)
1986
- 8 Million Ways to Die ... (Additional Writing)
1984
- Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes ... (Screenplay)
1983
- Deal of the Century ... (Additional Writing)
1982
- Personal Best ... (Director)
1978
- Heaven Can Wait ... (Additional Writing)
1975
- Shampoo as Party Guest (uncredited)
1974
- Chinatown ... (Writer)
- The Parallax View ... (Additional Writing)
- The Yakuza ... (Screenplay)
1973
- The Last Detail ... (Screenplay)
1972
- The Godfather ... (Story Editor)
- The New Centurions ... (Additional Writing)
1971
- McCabe & Mrs. Miller ... (Additional Writing)
- Cisco Pike ... (Additional Writing)
- Drive, He Said as Richard
- The Zodiac Killer as Man in Bar #3
1968
- Villa Rides ... (Screenplay)
1967
- Bonnie and Clyde ... (Additional Writing)
1964
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ... (Writer)
- The Tomb of Ligeia ... (Screenplay)
1963
- The Outer Limits ... (Writer)
1962
- The Lloyd Bridges Show ... (Writer)
1961
- Creature from the Haunted Sea as Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator
1960
- Last Woman on Earth as Martin Joyce