
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). Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Towne, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting
- 2011The Story of Film: An OdysseySelf2 ep.
- 1997Cadillac DesertSelf - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown'4 ep.
Behind the camera
- 2012Welcome to the BasementScreenplay1 ep.
- 2007Mad MenConsulting Producer14 ep.
- 1964The Man from U.N.C.L.E.Writer1 ep.
- 1963The Outer LimitsWriter1 ep.
- 1962The Lloyd Bridges ShowWriter1 ep.
Guest appearances
- 2011The Story of Film: An OdysseySelf2 ep.
- 1998AFI's 100 Years... 100 MoviesSelf1 ep.
Also known as: P. H. Vasak · Роберт Таун · Robert Bertram Schwartz