Robert Towne
Biography
A screenwriter and director from Los Angeles, Robert Towne started his career writing for Roger Corman. He wrote Last Woman on Earth (1960), in which he also acted, and appeared in Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961). After writing for television, he did uncredited script work on Drive, He Said (1971) and gained attention as a script doctor on Bonnie and Clyde (1967). He earned acclaim and Academy Award nominations for The Last Detail (1973) and Shampoo (1975), and won Best Original Screenplay for Chinatown (1974). He also wrote The Two Jakes (1990), Days of Thunder (1990), The Firm (1993), and the first two Mission: Impossible films (1996, 2000). As a director, he made Personal Best (1982), Tequila Sunrise (1988), Without Limits (1998), and Ask the Dust (2006). Later he was a consulting producer on Mad Men.
89years old at death
- Born Los Angeles
- Died Los Angeles
- Star sign: SagittariusThe sign runs November 22 to December 21
- Robert Bertram Schwartz (birth name)Also credited as P.H. Vazak
Movie Career
- Films
- 7
- Career span
- 58 years1960 to 2018
Genres
- Drama43%, 3 films
- Comedy29%, 2 films
- Crime29%, 2 films
- Documentary29%, 2 films
- Horror29%, 2 films
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A first
Towne grew unhappy with the production and gave his dog, P. H. Vazak, credit for the script. Vazak was the first dog ever nominated for an Academy Award for screenwriting.
Early training
At an acting class taught by Jeff Corey, which Roger Corman ran, Towne's fellow students included Jack Nicholson, Irvin Kershner, and Sally Kellerman.
First role
Towne wrote the screenplay for Last Woman on Earth, a 1960 film financed by Corman, and he also took one of the lead roles in it.
Behind the camera
Sam Wasson's book The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood states that Towne quietly hired Edward Taylor, a friend from college, to work with him uncredited on his writing for over 40 years.
Getting ready for a role
Towne said he got the idea for Chinatown from a chapter of Carey McWilliams's 1946 book Southern California Country: An Island on the Land and from a West magazine piece about Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles.
Robert Towne movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Roger Corman directed two of these films. Three actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Antony Carbone's page
Betsy Jones-Moreland's page
John Guare2 films together, 2013 to 2018
John Guare's page
All films by Roger Corman
Awards
Two awards and honors, one of them major.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | |||
| 1975 | Best Writing, Original Screenplay | Chinatown | Won |
| Other honors | |||
| 1975 | Edgar Awards | Won | |
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.