Actor
Robert Towne
November 23, 1934 · San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA
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).
Notable work
Often works with
Jack Nicholson
4 titles together
Chinatown, The Two Jakes, Drive, He Said
James Hong
3 titles together
Chinatown, The Two Jakes, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
William Mapother
3 titles together
Suspect Zero, Ask the Dust, Without Limits
Luana Anders
3 titles together
Shampoo, Personal Best, Halloween Monster Bash
Perry Lopez
2 titles together
Chinatown, The Two Jakes
Roman Polanski
2 titles together
Chinatown, Making of Chinatown
Full filmography · 20
Robert Towne
cast
Upcoming
Making of Chinatown
cast
2007
Ask the Dust
Director
20065.5
Suspect Zero
as Professor Dates (uncredited)
20045.5
Without Limits
Writer and Director
19986.6
Halloween Monster Bash
as Sparks Moran (archive footage)
1991
The Two Jakes
Writer
19906
Tequila Sunrise
Director
19886.1
The Pick-up Artist
as Stan
19875.7
8 Million Ways to Die
Writer
19865.5
Personal Best
Director and Writer
19826
Shampoo
as Party Guest (uncredited) and Writer
19756