A screenwriter and former journalist, he won Oscars for his scripts for The Gunfighter and The Sheepman. He was one of several non-actors picked by Francis Ford Coppola to appear in the trial scene in The Godfather Part II, along with Roger Corman. After his work on The Godfather Part II, Coppola hired Bowers as a staff writer for Zoetrope Studios, a position he held until his death.
He died in 1987.
