Robert Towne Biography (1934-)

Full name, Robert Burton Towne; born November 23, 1934, in Los Angeles, CA; son of Lou (a real estate developer) and Helen Towne; married Julie Payne (anactress), November 1977 (divorced, c. 1981); married Luisa Gaule, c. 1985; children: (first marriage) Katharine Payne; (second marriage) Chiara Gaule. Addresses: Agent: Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Screenwriter, director, producer, actor
Birth Details: November 23, 1934; Los Angeles, California, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Film Work
Second assistant director, The Young Racers, 1963
Producer and director, Personal Best, Warner Bros., 1982
Executive producer, The Bedroom Window, De Laurentis EntertainmentGroup, 1987
Director, Tequila Sunrise, Warner Bros., 1988
Story consultant, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, 1990
Director and producer, Without Limits, Warner Bros., 1998
Director, Ask the Dust, Paramount, 2005
Director, The 39 Steps, 2005
Script consultant, Mission: Impossible III (also known as M:I-3), Paramount, 2006
Film Appearances
(As Edward Wain) Martin Joyce, The Last Woman on Earth, Filmgroup,1960
(As Edward Wain) Sparks Moran, Agent XK150, and narrator, The Creaturefrom the Haunted Sea, Filmgroup, 1961
Third man in bar, The Zodiac Killer, 1971
Richard, Drive, He Said, Columbia, 1971
(Uncredited) Party guest, Shampoo, 1975
Stan, The Pick-Up Artist, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1987
Himself, Chinatown Revisited with Roman Polanski, Robert Evans and Robert Towne (documentary short film), Paramount Home Video, 1999
Himself, Behind the Mission: The Making of "M:I-2" (documentary short film; also known as Behind the Mission: The Making of "Mission: Impossible II"), Paramount Home Video, 2000
Himself, A Decade under the Influence (documentary), IFC Films, 2003
(Uncredited) Professor Dates, Suspect Zero, Paramount, 2004
Television Appearances
Miniseries
Cadillac Desert (documentary), PBS, 1997
Specials
The 47th Annual Academy Awards, NBC, 1975
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies, CBS, 1998
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy, PBS, 1998
Himself, Playing the Field: Sports and Sex in America (documentary), HBO, 2000
Himself, Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film (documentary), AMC, 2002
Himself, Rescued from the Closet (documentary), AMC, 2002
Himself, AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes & Villains (also knownas AFI's 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains: America's Greatest ScreenCharacters), CBS, 2003
Episodic
American Cinema, PBS, 1995

WRITINGS
Screenplays
(As Edward Wain) The Last Woman on Earth, Filmgroup, 1960
My Daddy Can Lick Your Daddy, 1962
The Tomb of Ligeia (also known as Tomb of the Cat, Ligeia, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tomb of Ligeia," and Last Tomb of Ligeia), American International, 1965
(With Sam Peckinpah) Villa Rides, Paramount, 1968
The Last Detail, Columbia, 1973
Chinatown, Paramount, 1974
(With Warren Beatty) Shampoo, Columbia, 1975
(With Paul Schrader) The Yakuza (also known as Brotherhood of Yakuza), Warner Bros./Toei, 1975
Personal Best, Warner Bros., 1982
(As P. H. Vazak; with Michael Austin) Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan,Lord of the Apes, Warner Bros., 1984
The Bedroom Window, De Laurentis Entertainment Group, 1987
Tequila Sunrise, Warner Bros., 1988
The Two Jakes, Paramount, 1990
Days of Thunder (based on a story by Towne and Tom Cruise), Paramount, 1990
(With David Rabe and David Rayfiel) The Firm, Paramount, 1993
(With Beatty) Love Affair, Warner Bros., 1994
(With David Koepp) Mission Impossible (also known as Mission: Impossible), Paramount, 1996
(With Kenneth Moore) Without Limits, Warner Bros., 1998
Mission: Impossible 2 (also known as M:I-2 and Mission:Impossible II), Paramount, 2000
Ask the Dust, 2005
The 39 Steps, Paramount, 2005
Script Doctor
Uncredited
The Creature from the Haunted Sea, Filmgroup, 1961
A Time for Killing, Columbia, 1967
(Credited as "special consultant") Bonnie and Clyde, Warner Bros.,1967
Cisco Pike, Columbia, 1971
Drive, He Said, 1971
Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Paramount, 1972
Cisco Pike, 1972
The New Centurions (also known as Precinct 45: Los Angeles Police), 1972
The Parallax View, 1974
Missouri Breaks, 1976
Marathon Man, Paramount, 1977
Orca (also known as The Killer Whale and Orca: The Killer Whale), 1977
Heaven Can Wait, 1978
Reds, 1981
Swing Shift, Warner Bros., 1984
Eight Million Ways to Die, TriStar, 1986
Tough Guys Don't Dance, 1987
Frantic, Warner Bros., 1988
Armageddon, Buena Vista, 1998
Television Episodes
The Lloyd Bridges Show (four episodes), CBS, 1962-63
"The Chameleon," The Outer Limits, ABC, 1964
"The Dove Affair," The Man from U.N.C.L.E., NBC, 1964
"So Many Pretty Girls, So Little Time," Breaking Point, ABC, 1964
The Richard Boone Show, NBC, 1964
Other Writings
"A Screenwriter on Screenwriting," Anatomy of the Movies, Macmillan, 1981

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Books

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: Volume 4: Writers and Production Artists, 4th edition, St. James Press, 2000

Periodicals

American Film, January/February, 1989
Entertainment Weekly, September 18, 1998, p. 21
Esquire, July, 1991, p. 86

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