Robert Towne, One Of The Greatest Screenwriters In Hollywood History, Has Died

Robert Towne, the renowned screenwriter and filmmaker responsible for the scripts of movies like "Chinatown," "Shampoo," and "Mission: Impossible," has died. The Hollywood Reporter shared the news (confirmed by publicist Carri McClure) that the 89-year-old storyteller passed away on Monday in his home.

A singularly influential and talented craftsman, Towne was as revered for the scripts that didn't end up with his name on them as for the ones that did. In 1973, when Francis Ford Coppola won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for "The Godfather," he acknowledged Towne's contributions in his acceptance speech, saying, "Giving credit where it's due, I'd like to thank Bob Towne, who wrote the very beautiful scene between Marlon [Brando] and Al Pacino in the garden — that was Bob Towne's scene."

According to THR, other scripts he worked on without credit include Oliver Stone's "8 Million Ways To Die," Paul Schrader's "The Yakuza," Jack Nicholson's "Drive, He Said," Arthur Penn's "Bonnie & Clyde," and the 1984 film "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes," for which he used the pen name P.H. Vazak. Known as a script doctor as much as a screenwriter, this list is likely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Towne's uncredited contributions.

Though his most groundbreaking work came in the New Hollywood era, Towne began working in the pictures as a would-be actor, starring in Roger Corman flicks "Last Woman on Earth" (which he also wrote) and "Creature From the Haunted Sea" in 1960 and '61. He clearly had bigger plans, though, as he did so under another assumed name: Edward Wain. By 1964, he was building up writing credits in television, contributing episodes to "The Outer Limits" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E," and "The Lloyd Bridges Show." Later in life, he'd return to the medium to work as a consulting producer on the seventh season of "Mad Men," a show that by that point was set around the same era in which Towne first struck gold in Hollywood.

Towne also tried his hand at directing, and was successful critically if not always at the box office. He wrote and directed four films from 1982 to 2006, including the Oscar-nominated crime drama "Tequila Sunrise" and "Personal Best," a lesbian-centric track and field drama that the American Film Academy once nominated on the longlist for the best American sports films of all time. The California-born filmmaker often worked with Tom Cruise, who produced two of his directorial efforts, and Jack Nicholson, who he was roommates with in the pair's early days, according to Variety. "From the moment I laid eyes on him, I knew Jack was gonna be a star," Towne told the outlet in a 50th anniversary "Chinatown" retrospective just last month. He penned a sequel to that film for Nicholson, "The Two Jakes," released in 1990, and recently told Variety "all the episodes have been written" for a (hopefully) upcoming Netflix prequel directed by David Fincher.

A prolific, decorated storyteller, Towne's credits — official and otherwise — go on and on, but for the countless writers and filmmakers inspired by him, their quality matters as much as their quantity. "He knows how to use sly indirection, canny repetition, unexpected counterpoint and a unique poetic vulgarity to stretch a scene or an entire script to its utmost emotional capacity," Michael Sragow wrote in a 1998 New Phoenix Times profile. 

Roger Ebert put it differently in his slightly confounded review of "Tequila Sunrise," writing, "In the mind of Robert Towne there must be many crannies, many hidden pathways to the same conclusions. In considering a problem he must ponder first this, then that possibility, projecting scenarios on the screen of his imagination. I doubt if he's the kind of guy you'd ask for the shortest way to Studio City." He might not have been, but he was the kind of guy half of Hollywood would ask to polish up a promising script, and the movies as a whole are better for it.

According to THR, Towne is survived by his daughters, Louisa and Chiara, along with his second wife Luisa, brother Roger, sister-in-law Sylvaine, and niece and nephews Jocelyn and Nick. He will be missed.