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IMDbPro

Robert Towne(I)

  • Writer
  • Producer
  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Robert Towne at an event for Ask the Dust (2006)
A crook decides to bump off members of his inept crew and blame their deaths on a legendary sea creature. What he doesn't know is that the creature is real.
Play trailer1:23
Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
2 Videos
7 Photos
Writer, director, producer, actor. Born in Los Angeles, California, USA, and raised in the seaport town of San Pedro. Got his start acting and writing for legendary exploitation director/producer Roger Corman. Came into his own during the 1970s when he was regarded as one of the finest screenwriters in Hollywood. Began directing with mixed success in 1982. One of the best script doctors in Hollywood, he contributed crucial scenes to such films as Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Godfather (1972).
BornNovember 23, 1934
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornNovember 23, 1934
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Won 1 Oscar

Photos7

Tom Cruise, Robert Duvall, and Robert Towne in Days of Thunder (1990)
Robert Towne
Jack Nicholson and Robert Towne in Drive, He Said (1971)
Director Robert Towne
Robert Towne with Billy Crudup
Robert Towne

Known for

Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
Chinatown
8.2
  • Writer
  • 1974
Tom Cruise, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, and Ingeborga Dapkunaite in Mission: Impossible (1996)
Mission: Impossible
7.1
  • Writer
  • 1996
The Last Detail (1973)
The Last Detail
7.5
  • Writer
  • 1973
Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kurt Russell in Tequila Sunrise (1988)
Tequila Sunrise
6.0
  • Writer
  • 1988

Credits

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IMDbPro

Writer

  • Chinatown
    • Pre-production
  • Matt Sloan and Craig Johnson in Welcome to the Basement (2012)
    Welcome to the Basement
  • Salma Hayek and Colin Farrell in Ask the Dust (2006)
    Ask the Dust
  • Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible II (2000)
    Mission: Impossible II
  • Billy Crudup and Monica Potter in Without Limits (1998)
    Without Limits
  • Tom Cruise, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, and Ingeborga Dapkunaite in Mission: Impossible (1996)
    Mission: Impossible
  • Katharine Hepburn, Warren Beatty, and Annette Bening in Love Affair (1994)
    Love Affair
  • The Firm (1993)
    The Firm
  • Jack Nicholson in The Two Jakes (1990)
    The Two Jakes
  • Days of Thunder (1990)
    Days of Thunder
  • Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kurt Russell in Tequila Sunrise (1988)
    Tequila Sunrise
  • Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner in Frantic (1988)
    Frantic
    • (uncredited)
  • Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987)
    Tough Guys Don't Dance
    • (uncredited)
  • Rosanna Arquette, Jeff Bridges, and Alexandra Paul in 8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
    8 Million Ways to Die
    • (uncredited)
  • Christopher Lambert in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
    Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
    • (as P.H. Vazak)
  • Sigourney Weaver, Chevy Chase, and Gregory Hines in Deal of the Century (1983)
    Deal of the Century
    • (uncredited)

Producer

  • Chinatown
    • Pre-production
  • Mad Men (2007)
    Mad Men
  • Steve Guttenberg, Isabelle Huppert, and Elizabeth McGovern in The Bedroom Window (1987)
    The Bedroom Window
  • Mariel Hemingway in Personal Best (1982)
    Personal Best

Actor

  • Suspect Zero (2004)
    Suspect Zero
    • (uncredited)
  • Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr. in The Pick-up Artist (1987)
    The Pick-up Artist
  • Shampoo (1975)
    Shampoo
    • (uncredited)
  • Drive, He Said (1971)
    Drive, He Said
  • The Zodiac Killer (1971)
    The Zodiac Killer
    • (as Robert Tubin)
  • Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
    Creature from the Haunted Sea
    • (as Edward Wain)
  • Last Woman on Earth (1960)
    Last Woman on Earth
    • (as Edward Wain)
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos2

Trailer
Trailer 2:12
Trailer
DVD Trailer
Trailer 1:23
DVD Trailer

Personal details

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    • November 23, 1934
    • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Luisa TowneOctober 17, 1984 - present (1 child)
    • Katharine Towne
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Biographical Movie
    • 4 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    According to an interview Towne gave he said his relationship, in the fifties, with dancer Barrie Chase led to one of his greatest successes. Barrie had been married to a hairdresser named Gene Shacove who had become the hottest stylist in Beverly Hills by the late fifties, as well as one of the most notorious womanizers. Towne was intrigued that a hairdresser was straight and asked to meet him. Barrie arranged for Towne to pick her up when she was getting her hair done, and when he walked into the salon he was stunned. It was full of the most beautiful women in LA, and Shacove was moving from woman to woman running his hands through their hair, whispering in their ear, and generally behaving like a "rooster in the hen house". It took almost twenty years but Towne finally crafted his impressions of that day into a successful script- Shampoo.
  • Quotes
    Because the one thing you know when you're shooting a script, and I've been on a lot of sets, is space is in a script, and the distance between the page and the stage is so enormous that it is unbelievable how even the brightest people can misread your intent or not see it altogether. Scripts have air in them. Scripts are supposed to leave things up to interpretation, but people can misread things enormously, so sometimes it's just a matter of wanting to put on the screen what you had in mind.
    • Reputation as Script Doctor Extraordinaire
    • Chinatown
      (1974)
      $25,000

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