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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).
Known For
Creature from the Haunted Sea
as Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator
Suspect Zero
as Professor Dates (uncredited)
The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made
as Agent XK150 (archive footage)
Shampoo
as Party Guest (uncredited)
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
as Self
The Pick-up Artist
as Stan
Drive, He Said
as Richard
Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature
as Self - Screenwriter, 'Chinatown'
A Decade Under the Influence
as Self
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
as Self
