Personal Info

Known For

Writing

Gender

Male

Birthday

November 22, 1934 (90 years old)

Place of Birth

San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA

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

Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde'

Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature

You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story

Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes