Robert Towne

In search of 'The Searchers' and the history behind the western

2013-03-01 11:00:00

The bigger the fight between a screenwriter and a director, the better the picture. It's an arrant generalization but not necessarily an errant one. Look at Budd Schulberg's battles with "On the Waterfront," or Robert Towne's over the ending of...

Richard Collins dies at 98; onetime blacklisted screenwriter

2013-02-15 00:00:00

Richard Collins, a screenwriter during the McCarthy era who was blacklisted for several years before he cooperated with the Communist-hunting House Un-American Activities Committee, died Thursday in Ventura. The onetime Communist Party member was 98...

Justin Bieber pays $6.5 million for Calabasas home

2012-05-27 00:00:00

The price that first-time homeowner Justin Bieber paid for his new digs in Calabasas has wended its way into the public record: $6.5 million. Set on 1.3 acres in a gated community, the 10,000-square-foot main house is described as "transitional French"...

'Chinatown' writer Robert Towne lists Westside estate

2012-05-08 13:43:00

"Chinatown" writer Robert Towne has listed his estate on the Westside at $12.995 million. Built in 1926 and designed for grand entertaining, the restored English country-style mansion and guesthouse have seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms and 10,000 square...

Elmore Leonard to receive lifetime achievement award from PEN USA

2009-09-30 16:33:28

Charles Eastman dies at 79; playwright and screenwriter

2009-07-10 00:00:00

Charles Eastman, a playwright and screenwriter whose credits included the 1970s films "The All-American Boy" and "Little Fauss and Big Halsy," has died. He was 79. Eastman, the brother of the late "Five Easy Pieces" screenwriter Carole Eastman, died July...

Peter Biskind on Warren Beatty: Was his theme song 'You're So Vain' or 'Just a Gigolo'?

2010-01-11 16:32:26

Writers work picket lines as TV shows shut down

2007-11-06 00:00:00

In an often spirited display of protest playing out on both sides of the country, more than 1,000 screenwriters -- representing "Lost," "The Young and the Restless," "Chinatown" and everything in between -- hoisted picket signs and chanted labor songs...

Sydney Pollack, 73; Oscar-winning director and producer

2008-05-27 00:00:00

Sydney Pollack, the Academy Award-winning director of "Out of Africa" who achieved acclaim making popular, mainstream movies with A-list stars, including "The Way We Were" and "Tootsie," died Monday. He was 73. Pollack, who also was a producer and actor,...

Esotouric tours explores L.A.'s dark side

2007-06-14 00:00:00

It was on a bus tour of 100-year-old ghost stories that two L.A. history freaks hit a speed bump on their journey into the city's most obscure corners. "The problem with that tour," says Richard Schave, one of the movers behind a new tour series called...

L.A.: Life that art can't imitate

2007-08-20 00:00:00

So Reggie the alligator already has escaped once from his cell at the Los Angeles Zoo. Mark my words: No prison will hold him. He will escape again and steal a Ferrari Enzo. This is what makes writing wild fiction about Los Angeles so hard. L.A. just...

'Wall-E,' 'Torino' win big for '08

2008-12-15 00:00:00

The American Film Institute named its best films for 2008 on Sunday afternoon and the big winners were " Wall-E," the Disney/Pixar animated romantic comedy about a lovable robot, and "Gran Torino," Clint Eastwood's drama about a widowed bigot who faces...

"Chinatown" writer Robert Towne has listed his estate on the Westside at $12.995 million.

2012-05-23 18:26:37

Robert Towne 's Westside home sits on a heavily wooded lot.

2012-05-10 13:04:12

, in 1969. But he agreed to return to Hollywood to direct this classic, which was released on June 20, 1974.

2011-05-29 18:21:28