Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz; November 23, 1934 – July 1, 2024) was an American screenwriter and director. He started writing films for Roger Corman, including The Tomb of Ligeia in 1964, and was later part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking.
Towne wrote and won an Academy Award for Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974); starring Jack Nicholson, widely considered one of the greatest screenplays ever written, as well as its sequel, The Two Jakes (1990). For Hal Ashby, he penned the comedy-dramas The Last Detail (1973) and Shampoo (1975). He collaborated with Tom Cruise on the films Days of Thunder (1990), The Firm (1993), and the first two installments of the Mission: Impossible franchise (1996, 2000).
Towne directed the sports dramas Personal Best (1982) and Without Limits (1998), the crime thriller Tequila Sunrise (1988), and the romantic drama Ask the Dust (2006).
Towne was born Robert Bertram Schwartz in Los Angeles, California, the son of Helen and Lou Schwartz, a clothing store owner and property developer who changed the family's name from "Schwartz" to "Towne." Towne grew up in San Pedro and Rolling Hills and attended Chadwick School. His family was Jewish, and had emigrated from Romania on his father's side and Russia on his mother's. He had a younger brother, Roger, who co-wrote the 1984 film The Natural, starring Robert Redford.
He graduated from Pomona College in Claremont, California, studying philosophy and literature. After college, Towne served in the U.S. Army before doing odd jobs including working as a tuna fisherman.
Towne originally sought work as a writer and actor. He took an acting class with Roger Corman taught by Jeff Corey where his classmates also included Jack Nicholson (with whom he shared an apartment), Irvin Kershner, and Sally Kellerman.
Corman was known for giving work to untested people of talent. Towne wrote the screenplay for the Corman-financed Last Woman on Earth (1960), in which Towne also played one of the lead roles.
The following year he also starred in the Corman-financed Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961).
Towne started writing for television on such programs as The Lloyd Bridges Show, Breaking Point, The Outer Limits, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
He also wrote a screenplay for the Corman-directed The Tomb of Ligeia (1965). In 1981 Towne said "I worked harder on... [that] screenplay for him than on anything I think I have ever done."
Towne went back to working in television when Corman hired him to write a script for a Western, which became A Time for Killing (1967). Corman left the project during filming and Towne took his name off the credits. Towne said later he "hated" the film.
Towne's script for A Time for Killing had been read and admired by Warren Beatty, who asked Towne to help out on the script for Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Towne later claimed his main contributions were removing the ménage à trois relationship between Bonnie, Clyde, and C.W., making some structural changes. Towne was on set during filming and continued to work during post-production. The film was a huge success and although Towne's contribution was credited only as a "special consultant", he began to earn a reputation in Hollywood as a top script doctor.
Towne was credited on Villa Rides (1968), which he later said he did as a favor for Robert Evans, head of Paramount. He hated the experience.
Towne did uncredited work on the scripts for Drive, He Said (1971), directed by Jack Nicholson; Cisco Pike (1971), which Towne said turned into "a pretty good movie" but where he got "so angry with the director" he took his name off; and The New Centurions (1972), where he was to share credit with Stirling Silliphant but asked for his name to be taken off after he saw the film.
He did uncredited work for Francis Ford Coppola during the making of The Godfather (1972), including the final scene between Michael and Vito in a garden, shortly before Vito dies. Coppola later thanked Towne for writing this pivotal and "very beautiful" scene in his Academy Award speech for Best Screenplay.
Towne also did some work on The Parallax View (1974) at the behest of star Warren Beatty.
The Last Detail, Chinatown, and Shampoo
Towne received acclaim and was nominated in the Best Original and Adapted Screenplay categories for his scripts The Last Detail (1973), Chinatown (1974), and Shampoo (1975).