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).
Creature from the Haunted Sea
(Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator)
Last Woman on Earth
(Martin Joyce)
Drive, He Said
(Richard)
Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde'
(Self)
Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That
(Self)
Shampoo
(Party Guest (uncredited))
Suspect Zero
(Professor Dates (uncredited))
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
(Self)
The Pick-up Artist
(Stan)
Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature
(Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown')
The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made
(Agent XK150 (archive footage))
The Zodiac Killer
(Man in Bar #3)
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
(Self)
A Sad Flower in the Sand
(Self)
Salinger
(Self - Screenwriter)
Rescued from the Closet
(Self)
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
(Self)
A Decade Under the Influence
(Self)
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
(Self)
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies
(Self)
Tequila Sunrise
(Screenplay)
Tequila Sunrise
(Director)
Ask the Dust
(Screenplay)
Ask the Dust
(Director)
Mission: Impossible
(Screenplay)
Mission: Impossible II
(Screenplay)
Days of Thunder
(Screenplay)
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
(Writer)
Without Limits
(Writer)
Without Limits
(Director)
Shampoo
(Writer)
The Two Jakes
(Writer)
Personal Best
(Director)
The Yakuza
(Screenplay)
The Tomb of Ligeia
(Screenplay)
The Firm
(Screenplay)
The Last Detail
(Screenplay)
Love Affair
(Screenplay)
Villa Rides
(Screenplay)
Last Woman on Earth
(Screenplay)
Personal Best
(Producer)
The Two Jakes
(Characters)
Drive, He Said
(Additional Writing)
8 Million Ways to Die
(Additional Writing)
Heaven Can Wait
(Additional Writing)
Frantic
(Additional Writing)
Cisco Pike
(Additional Writing)
The Parallax View
(Additional Writing)
Bonnie and Clyde
(Additional Writing)
Tough Guys Don't Dance
(Additional Writing)
Deal of the Century
(Additional Writing)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
(Additional Writing)
The New Centurions
(Additional Writing)
Personal Best
(Writer)
8 Million Ways to Die
(Writer)
Days of Thunder
(Story)
The Bedroom Window
(Executive Producer)
Battle of Britain
(Screenplay)
Chinatown
(Writer)
The Lloyd Bridges Show
(Writer)
The Outer Limits
(Writer)
Welcome to the Basement
(Screenplay)