(CNN) — Robert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of a number of acclaimed movies, including the classic 1974 noir thriller “Chinatown” starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, has died. He was 89 years old.
The news was confirmed by Towne’s publicist Carri McClure, who said he died on Monday “peacefully at home surrounded by his loving family.” No cause of death was provided.
Towne won the Academy Award for best original screenplay for “Chinatown,” which last month celebrated 50 years since being released.
Towne enjoyed an enormously productive period in the 1970s, writing such films as “Shampoo,” starring Warren Beatty, and “The Last Detail,” also starring Nicholson. He was also well known as an accomplished script polisher and ghost writer, penning scenes for a number of movies on which he wasn’t credited, including “The Godfather.”
Towne also cowrote the screenplay for “The Firm,” starring Tom Cruise, and worked with the actor on the first two “Mission: Impossible” movies. Always in high demand, Towne wrote the “Chinatown” sequel “The Two Jakes,” directed by Nicholson, and served as a consulting producer on the Emmy-winning series “Mad Men.”
Born in Los Angeles, Towne said in an interview with Variety earlier this year, tied to the 50th anniversary of “Chinatown,” that he also liked writing for a particular star, as opposed to working on a script without knowing who would be playing the key roles.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.