That famous person passed away

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Towne began his Hollywood career in the 1960s. In the early years of his career, he worked with B movie director Roger Corman. Towne wrote Corman’s 1960 film “The Last Woman on Earth” and starred in the 1961 film “Creature From the Haunted Sea.”

With his rise in the industry, Towne gained a reputation as a reliable script doctor. His most famous work was his anonymous contributions to Francis Ford Coppola’s film “The Godfather,” for which he won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. He also did uncredited work in films such as “Drive, He Said” (1971), “Cisco Pike” (1972) and “The New Centurions” (1972). He also contributed to the script of the film “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967).

But Towne became best known for the screenplays he wrote in the ’70s: “The Last Detail” (1973), “Chinatown” (1974) and “Shampoo” (1975). He earned Oscar nominations for each of those screenplays, winning for “Chinatown.” Especially “Chinatown” and “Shampoo” brought Towne’s pessimistic and lonely perspective on Los Angeles to Hollywood history.

Towne also became known as a director. He directed the films “Personal Best” in 1982 and “Tequila Sunrise” in 1988. He also did uncredited directing work on films such as “Deal of the Century” (1983), “8 Million Ways to Die” (1986), “Tough Guys Don’t Dance” (1987) and “Frantic” (1988).

Towne has built strong relationships with many famous actors throughout his career. One of them was “Chinatown” star Jack Nicholson, whom she met in an acting class in the ’60s. Another important name was Tom Cruise; This friendship led Towne to write the screenplays for the films “Mission: Impossible” (1996) and “Mission: Impossible II” (2000).

His recent work includes consulting for AMC’s hit series “Mad Men.” It was also confirmed in 2019 that he was working with David Fincher on a prequel to “Chinatown” for Netflix. In a recent interview with Variety, Towne stated that all episodes of the project have been written.

Robert Towne is survived by his wife Luisa and two daughters.