 And Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Towne has died. Towne won the Academy Award for the 1974 Jack Nicholson classic Chinatown and was nominated two more times in the 70s for the Hal Ashby films Shampoo and The Last Detail. Critics widely considered him a master at writing dialogue. Robert Towne was 89 years old. WGCA True Center Time, 7.33. Local headlines were following for you.