Robert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of the neo-noir classic Chinatown, died this week at the age of 89.
Carrie McClure, Towne’s publicist, confirmed that the legendary writer-director died at his Los Angeles home this week. Per Variety:
Towne came to prominence in the 1970s with three critical and commercial hits released within a 14-month period: “The Last Detail” (1973), “Chinatown” (1974) and “Shampoo” (1975). He was nominated in the writing category for all three, winning for “Chinatown.”
Hired as a “special consultant” by Warren Beatty for 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” Towne restructured the picture to dramatize the outlaws’ impending doom. He also turned an inert family reunion scene with Beatty and Faye Dunaway into one of the picture’s emotional high points. Clyde’s charming bravado falls flat when Bonnie’s mother responds, “You try to live three miles from me and you won’t live long, honey.”
Director Arthur Penn was delighted with Towne’s work. “It helped Warren play the scene, and it certainly helped Faye and the mother,” Penn said.
A great deal of Towne’s work went uncredited throughout the 1970s, working as a script doctor on Marathon Man, The Missouri Breaks, and Heaven Can Wait, but he achieved unique success when director Francis Ford Coppola publicly thanked him for writing the garden scene between Al Pacino and Marlon Brando wherein Brando’s Don Corleone reluctantly passes the baton to his son, Michael.
Towne also penned the script for the Jack Nicholson star-vehicle The Last Detail.
Though his directing career never achieved the critical and commercial heights as his writing career, Towne’s turn behind the camera hit a pique with the acclaimed 1992 Olympic sports drama Without Limits starring Billy Crudup. He also directed the 1988 crime drama Tequila Sunrise starring Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kurt Russell.
During the 1990s, Towne hit a whole new stride by penning several of Tom Cruise’s top star vehicles, including The Firm and the first two Mission: Impossible movies.
