Robert Towne, the American director and screenwriter who earned an Oscar for best original screenplay for Chinatown, died this Tuesday at the age of 89. The publicist Carrie McClure confirmed the death to national outlets, including Variety, noting that Towne passed away at his Los Angeles home and that the causes of death were not disclosed.
In 1960 Towne secured a foothold in the industry by writing the script and acting in the Roger Corman film The Little Shop of Horrors, a project that helped launch the careers of actors who would later become legendary. A year later he returned to collaborate with Corman as an actor in The Monster of Piedras Blancas, and after that his acting career expanded to just over four more films.
Nevertheless, Towne built a broad and acclaimed career as a screenwriter, often working as a ghostwriter on projects for which he did not receive on‑screen credit, including Marathon Man and The Devil Dares Not. Films such as The Last Detail (1973) and Shampoo (1975), directed by Hal Ashby, along with Chinatown (1974) by Roman Polanski, cemented his status after earning Academy Award nominations for each. The Noir crime story directed by Polanski, starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, brought him the Oscar and a Golden Globe for best original screenplay.
Towne also contributed to television with projects like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Lloyd Bridges Show. He served as a consultant and scriptwriter for the Warren Beatty and Dunaway film about Bonnie and Clyde, while Francis Ford Coppola publicly appreciated Towne for writing a pivotal scene in The Godfather. Towne also directed, with limited commercial success, works such as Personal Best and Tequila Sunrise.
In 1997 he received a career achievement award from the Writers Guild of America. Some of his later credits include the first two installments of the Mission: Impossible franchise, the film Ask the Wind (2006), and the television series Welcome to the Basement (2013–2017).]