Robert Towne is the sort of screenwriter who is very important to but largely unrecognized outside of the film industry. He is a script doctor, most of whose work involves rewriting or polishing other writers' scripts; he is credited in less than half the films on which he has worked. This is hardly the way to become famous, but it has earned Towne a reputation as one of Hollywood's consummate professionals.

Towne grew up in the San Pedro harbor district, the son of Russian-Rumanian immigrants. He says, "I was born ... before World War II, so I can remember Los Angeles ... when it was an entirely different place. It had a beauty which is lost forever." He studied philosophy and literature at Pomona State College before dropping out of school to join the army. After he was discharged and having done "everything from selling real estate to working as...