The legendary screenwriter, director, and actor Robert Towne passed away after decades of success in the film industry. He passed away at the age of 89, leaving behind decades of work to admire - work that includes plenty of skin! Let's remember him through the sexy nude scenes that he wrote.
He was born and raised in Los Angeles where he grew up around the film industry despite not having family involved in it at the time. After graduating from Pomona College, he wanted to become an actor. He began his career the way so many others did in the late 50s and early 60s: through Roger Corman. He took Corman's acting classes with his friend and roommate Jack Nicholson!
Corman financed Towne's first screenplay Last Woman on Earth in 1960 and even allowed Towne to play the lead. The rest was history! He banged out scripts and roles in the 60s and made a living as a script doctor in Hollywood working on some truly great films such as Bonnie Clyde, Drive, He Said,The Parallax View, and The Godfather.
He hit his writing stride in the 70s with his first Oscar nomination for The Last Detail. He is best known for 1974's Chinatown. Starring his buddy Jack as grizzled detective in San Francisco, Chinatown is considered one of the best American movies of the 20th century. He three Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay, but he won his Oscar for Chinatown. Faye Dunaway did away with her top for a sex scene with Towne's pal Jack!
Another one of his beloved scripts is 1975's Shampoo. Oh, how I love Shampoo! One of my favorite actresses Julie Christie was a standout in the film as were her ta-ta's which came out when she was carried into a shower.
The luscious Lee Grant was also a beauty in this film where beautiful women were in every single shot. Goldie Hawn and a perky paired Carrie Fisher were real eye candy in the movie despite being clothed.
In the 1980s, Towne turned to directing. His directorial debut was the wildly underrated Personal Best. I say underrated because I rarely hear this 1982 film mentioned anymore, but it's a classic - especially for nudity! Was this Towne's Personal Best? When it comes to nudity: yes!
Personal best has EVERYTHING. Mariel Hemingway stars as a track-and-field athlete who is training for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. She and the other ladies on the team run their personal bests, but they don't run from one another as these babes start exploring one another's bodies. Sexual tension and stark competition lead to a lot of thrills and chills...and a steamy sauna scene!
Mariel Hemingway, Patrice Donnelly, Jodi Anderson, Kari G. Peyton, Maren Seidler, Martha Watson, Pam Spencer, Jan Glotzer, Emily Dole in Personal Best
00:32:14 Mariel and a number of other ladies bare boobs, bush, and some booty as they all take a steam together! (1 min 13 secs)
This is on AFI's top 10 list for best sports films and I have to agree. What isn't to love about Mariel and Patrice Donnelly in bed together?
Something you might not realize is that Robert Towne gave us one of our favorite Salma Hayek nude scenes. Ask the Dust asked the question: how hot would Salma look naked in the ocean? The answer to that question is: SO hot. Towne wrote and directed this flick produced by his friend Tom Cruise (for whom he also wrote several films) and the sweltering movie remains a Skin classic.
Towne did all this and so much more including writing two Mission Impossible films. He had one of the best-respected careers in Hollywood. He will be sorely missed and well remembered.
