His is considered the best screenplay ever: Cinema mourns the death of Robert Towne
The world of cinema says goodbye to one of the greatest screenwriters the big screen has ever known. Robert Towneauthor of Roman Polanski’s film “Chinatown“, for which he won an Academy Award in 1975, has died at the age of 89.
Born in Los Angeles on November 23, 1934, Robert Bertram Schwartz, better known as Robert Towne, was the son of a Romanian mother and a Russian father. His debut in the world of cinema, as screenwriterarrived in 1960 with the film “The Last Woman on Earth”by director Roger Corman, with whom he also collaborated in his second experience, in the 1964 film “The Tomb of Ligeia”.
His first work that was globally recognized came in 1974, with the film “The Last Corvé” by Hal Ashby, when he received his first Oscar nomination in the category of Best Adapted Screenplay, but did not win, and triumphed at the BAFTAs. The following year he raised the bar even further, managing to take home the Academy’s much-coveted golden statuette for the original screenplay of “Chinatown” of the director Roman PolanskiThe Polish director’s film is still considered the best screenplay ever written.
During his career he then obtained two other nominations for the Oscar Prize. In 1976 for the film “Shampoo” by director Hal Ashby and in 1985 for the film “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes” by Hugh Hudson. However, he was not awarded on either occasion.
There are also countless collaborations with the greats of cinema, from Sydney Pollack to Brian De Palma (with the latter in the film Mission: Impossible), passing through Jack Nicholson and Tony Scott. In addition to being a screenwriter, Towne has also tried his hand at direction and lately, according to what has emerged, he was working on a prequel series of “Chinatown” that would come out on Netflix.
The artist died at his home in Los Angeles on Monday, his family and his agent Carri McClure announced.
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