Robert Evans

Evans was born in New York City, the son of Florence (née Krasne), a housewife who came from a wealthy family, and Archie Shapera, a dentist in Harlem.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/94/Robert-Evans.html|title=Robert Evans Biography ((?)–)}} He described both of his parents as "second-generation Jews".{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Robert|title=The Kid Stays in the Picture|year=1994|publisher=Hyperion|isbn=978-0786860593|page=13}} He grew up on New York City's Upper West Side during the 1930s, where he was better off than most people living during the Great Depression.

In 1944, Evans's father asked his sons to change their last name to their grandmother's maiden name of "Evan", as she had only a short time to live. The brothers agreed, but added an "s", to make the name sound more American.Robert Evans, The Kid Stays in the Picture (Beverly Hills, CA: New Millennium Press, 1994), pp. 18-19

In his early years, he did promotional work for Evan-Picone, a fashion company founded by his brother Charles. After high school, he did a variety of voice work on radio. With a clear, deep voice as a teenager and a knack for foreign accents, by his estimation he performed in more than 300 radio shows before he turned 18. This included a leading role on The Aldrich Family situation comedy.

He was spotted by actress Norma Shearer next to the pool at The Beverly Hills Hotel on November 6, 1956. She successfully touted him for the role of her late husband Irving Thalberg in Man of a Thousand Faces. The same year, Evans also caught the eye of Darryl F. Zanuck, who cast him as Pedro Romero in the 1957 film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, against the wishes of co-star Ava Gardner and Hemingway himself.{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-9178936.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025040822/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-9178936.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 25, 2012|title=Robert Evans biopic studies producer fated to the screen}} In 1959, he appeared in Twentieth Century-Fox's production of The Best of Everything with Hope Lange, Diane Baker and Joan Crawford.

Dissatisfied with his own acting talent, he was determined to become a producer. He got his start by purchasing the rights to a 1966 novel titled The Detective which Evans made into a movie starring Frank Sinatra, Lee Remick, Jack Klugman, Robert Duvall and Jacqueline Bisset, in 1968. Peter Bart, a writer for The New York Times, wrote an article about Evans's aggressive production style. This got Evans noticed by Charles Bluhdorn, who was head of the Gulf+Western conglomerate which owned Paramount, and hired Evans as production vice-president in 1966 as part of a shakeup at Paramount Pictures (which included Bart, whom Evans would recruit as a Paramount executive).

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File:Bob Evans and Sharon Hugueny, 1961.jpg, 1961]]

When Evans took over as head of production for Paramount, the floundering studio was the ninth largest. Despite his inexperience, Evans was able to turn the studio around. He made Paramount the most successful studio in Hollywood and transformed it into a profitable enterprise for Gulf+Western. During his tenure at Paramount, the studio turned out films such as Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Romeo and Juliet, Rosemary's Baby, The Italian Job, True Grit, Love Story, Harold and Maude, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Serpico, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Save the Tiger, The Conversation, Chinatown, The Great Gatsby, and many others.

Dissatisfied with his financial compensation and desiring to produce films under his own banner, Evans struck a deal with Paramount in 1972 that enabled him to stay on as executive vice president of worldwide production while also working as an independent producer on five films.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=March 29, 1972|page=3|title=Bob Evans' New 5&5 Par Pact; 5 More Years As Global Prod. Chief Along With 5 Indie Pix, Also Via Par}} Other producers at Paramount felt this gave Evans an unfair advantage. After the huge critical and commercial success of the Evans-produced Chinatown, he stepped down as production chief, which enabled him to produce films on his own. From 1976 to 1980, working as an independent producer, he continued his streak of successful films with Marathon Man, Black Sunday, Popeye and Urban Cowboy. After 1980, his film output became both more infrequent and less critically acclaimed. He produced only two films over the next twelve years: The Cotton Club and The Two Jakes. From 1993 to 2003 he produced the films Sliver, Jade, The Phantom, The Saint, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

Evans produced and provided the voice for his eponymous character in the 2003 animated series Kid Notorious. In 2004 Evans hosted a Sirius Satellite Radio show, In Bed with Robert Evans. In 2009, Evans was in talks to produce a film about auto executive John DeLorean, as well as an HBO miniseries titled The Devil and Sidney Korshak.{{cite news| url=https://variety.com/2009/scene/markets-festivals/hbo-gets-to-work-on-korshak-1118002024/ | work=Variety | title=HBO gets to work on 'Korshak' | first=Michael | last=Fleming | date=April 1, 2009}} Neither project came to fruition.

In July 2019 Paramount did not renew its contract with Robert Evans Productions, which had been in place since 1974 after Evans stepped down from running the studio. Evans had a staff of three and had been working from his Woodland estate in Beverly Hills because of poor health.{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2019/07/robert-evans-departing-paramount-lot-after-52-years-1202657397/|title=Robert Evans Departing Paramount Lot After 52 Years|first=Anthony|last=D'Alessandro|work=Deadline|date=July 30, 2019}}

In the early 1980s, Evans was introduced to theatrical impresario Roy Radin, a producer of traveling musical and comedy revues, by cocaine dealer Karen Greenberger (aka Lanie Jacobs)."Jury Finds Four Guilty in 'Cotton Club' Murder Case." Sun-Sentinel, July 23, 1991. Radin was trying to break into the film industry with a movie about the legendary New York nightclub, the Cotton Club. The deal arranged on the film The Cotton Club mandated that Evans and Radin establish a production company in which each would own 45% of the film with the remaining 10% split between two other parties.Kasindorf, Jeanie. "The Cotton Club Murder". New York magazine, July 24, 1989, p. 27. Radin offered Greenberger (aka Jacobs) a $50,000 finder's fee for her efforts, which she found unsatisfactory.Daly, Michael. "The Making of Hollywood: A True Tale of Hollywood". New York Magazine, May 7, 1984, p. 47.

As The Cotton Club film financing was being arranged, the 33-year-old Radin was murdered in 1983. Contract killer William Mentzer was among four people sentenced for shooting Radin multiple times in the head and using dynamite to make identification by authorities more challenging."'Cotton Club' Defendant Says Evans Not Involved : Trial". Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1991. At the trial, Greenberger was convicted of second-degree murder and kidnapping. Her involvement was said to be over a fear of being cut out of a producer's role and potential profits from the film. As a result, the trial was dubbed the "Cotton Club" murder trial.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-23-mn-296-story.html|title='Cotton Club' Jury Convicts 4 of Murder|work=Los Angeles Times|date=July 23, 1991 }}

Heeding the advice of his attorney Robert Shapiro, Evans refused to testify during a May 1989 preliminary hearing, invoking the Fifth Amendment to avoid incriminating himself."Producer Evans Refuses to Testify". Associated Press, May 13, 1989 Police reports that had been submitted to obtain search warrants indicated at least two witnesses said Evans was involved in the Radin murder.{{cite web|last=McDougal|first=Dennis|title=Producer Robert Evans Invokes 5th at Hearing in Murder Case|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-13-me-2729-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=May 13, 1989 |access-date=December 8, 2013}}

Greenberger testified during her 1991 trial that Evans was not involved in the murder. She also claimed during her trial that she had been Evans's lover.{{cite news|title='Cotton Club' Defendant Says Evans Not Involved : Trial: The film producer had no role in Roy Radin's murder, woman testifies; She professes innocence and says Radin planned to kill her|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-27-me-503-story.html|access-date=December 8, 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 27, 1991}}

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Evans was convicted of cocaine trafficking in 1980. He entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor in federal court after being arrested for engineering a large cocaine buy with his brother Charles. As part of his plea bargain, he filmed an anti-drug TV commercial. The alleged drug dealing, which Evans continued to deny (the misdemeanor was later wiped from his record), came out of his own involvement with the drug. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer in a 1994 interview, "Bob 'Cocaine' Evans is how I'll be known to my grave". He argues that he never should have been convicted of federal selling and distribution charges, as he was only a user.{{cite news|url=http://articles.philly.com/1994-09-08/entertainment/25836636_1_robert-evans-indulgences-monsoons|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131208160408/http://articles.philly.com/1994-09-08/entertainment/25836636_1_robert-evans-indulgences-monsoons|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 8, 2013|title=A Mogul's Moguls Life's Been A Bumpy Ride For Producer Robert Evans, Who Went, In His Words, From "Legend To Leper"; It's All In His New Book, Even The Part About His Getting In Touch With God|last=Rea|first=Steven|date=September 8, 1994|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=December 8, 2013}}

File:Ali MacGraw & Robert Evans Majalah Varianada Edisi 87 Tahun 1972.jpg in 1972]]

Evans married seven times. He first married Sharon Hugueny in 1961, staying with her until 1962. Subsequently, he married Camilla Sparv (1964–1967), Ali MacGraw (1969–1973), Phyllis George (1977–1978), Catherine Oxenberg (1998),Archerd, Army. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb1437/is_199807/ai_n5948467&tag=rel.res1?tag=col1;fa_related_widget "Evans and Oxenberg saying 'I do.'"] Variety, July 1998. Retrieved September 9, 2008. Leslie Ann Woodward (2002–2004), and Victoria White (2005–2006). Evans's marriage to Oxenberg was annulled after nine days.Archerd, Army. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb1437/is_/ai_n5949007 "Evans and Oxenberg untie knot."] Variety, July 1998. Retrieved September 9, 2008. He married his seventh wife, Victoria White O'Gara (widow of Lord White), while in Mexico, in August 2005 shortly after his 75th birthday. She filed for divorce on June 16, 2006, citing irreconcilable differences.{{cite web|url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1205936,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118185255/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1205936,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 18, 2008|title=Divorce No. 7 for Producer Robert Evans|work=People}}

Evans had one child, Josh Evans, from his marriage to MacGraw. Josh is a film producer.

Evans's brother Charles Evans (1926–2007) was a businessman involved in clothing, real estate, promoting fire detectors and was also an occasional film producer (Tootsie, 1982, Monkey Shines, 1988 and Showgirls, 1995).{{Cite web|url=https://www.nysun.com/obituaries/charles-evans-81-founded-evan-picone-produced/56010/|title=Charles Evans, 81, Founded Evan-Picone, Produced Films, Built Office Complexes|last=Miller|first=Stephen|date=June 6, 2007|website=The New York Sun|access-date=October 29, 2019}} His nephew is broadcast journalist Michael Shure. Another nephew is Charles Evans, Jr. a documentary producer. His sister, Alice Shure, who was associate producer on Without a Trace (1983),{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb100f52f|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030143058/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb100f52f|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 30, 2019|title=Alice Shure|website=BFI|language=en|access-date=October 30, 2019}} has produced other films, and founded documentary film production companies.{{Cite web|url=http://www.amicifilms.com/about-amici.php|title=About Amici Films|website=www.amicifilms.com|language=en|access-date=October 30, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.lifetime-through-a-lens.com/about|title=ABOUT|website=www.lifetime-through-a-lens.com|access-date=October 30, 2019}}

On May 6, 1998, during a dinner party in honor of director Wes Craven, Evans suffered a stroke while giving a toast, and was rushed to nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Evans flatlined in the ambulance, but was resuscitated. Suffering a series of three strokes in quick succession, he was left paralyzed on his right side and completely unable to speak.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/26/books/the-fat-lady-sang-a-robert-evans-memoir.html|title=A Honcho in Winter With More Tales to Tell|date=December 26, 2013|work=The New York Times}} During his hospital stay, he was encouraged by media mogul and friend Sumner Redstone, who stayed at his bedside, to work on his speech and recovery. A few days after Evans's stroke, Frank Sinatra died from a heart attack in one of the adjoining rooms at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Witnessing his body being taken away, Evans said it was an event that furthered his desire to recover.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/theater/11evans.html|title=A Hollywood Player Inspires a Broadway Play|date=February 11, 2010|work=The New York Times}}

Evans eventually regained his ability to talk and returned to producing. From 2013, he relied on a cane for shorter walks and had limited mobility.

Evans died in Beverly Hills, California on October 26, 2019, at the age of 89.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2019/film/news/robert-evans-dead-dies-chinatown-producer-1203385589/|title=Robert Evans, 'Chinatown' Producer and Paramount Chief, Dies at 89|first1=Richard|last1=Natale|last2=Dagan|first2=Carmel|date=October 28, 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/arts/robert-evans-dead.html|title=Robert Evans, a Maverick Producer of Hollywood Classics, Dies at 89|last=Barnes|first=Brooks|date=October 28, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 28, 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/28/robert-evans-celebrated-hollywood-producer-of-chinatown-dies-aged-89|title=Robert Evans, celebrated Hollywood producer of Chinatown, dies aged 89|first=Andrew|last=Pulver|newspaper=The Guardian |date=October 28, 2019|via=www.theguardian.com}}

• Orson Welles' final film, The Other Side of the Wind (filmed 1970–1976 and released in 2018), a satire of 1970s Hollywood, has a young studio boss, "Max David", played by Geoffrey Land, who Welles admitted was a spoof of Evans.Charles Champlin, 'Falstaff in King Hollywood's Court: An Interview Concerning "The Other Side of the Wind"', in Ronald Gottesman (ed.), Focus on Orson Welles (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1976) p.196
• The character David Blackman in Blake Edwards' 1981 film S.O.B., played by Robert Vaughn, is based on Evans.Robert Vaughn interview on Ron and Fez XM Satellite radio program
• Evans felt that Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of Mumbles, a mobster, in the 1990 film Dick Tracy, was based on Evans's speaking style.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jan-04-ca-4715-story.html|title=Robert Evans' Latest Remake|first=Amy|last=Wallace|date=January 4, 1998|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=May 24, 2021}}
• In the 1997 film Wag the Dog, a Washington, D.C., spin doctor distracts the US electorate from a presidential sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood producer, again played by Hoffman, whose character was an open parody of Evans.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/robert-evans-hollywood-producer-of-the-godfather-dies-aged-89-1.4065715|title=Robert Evans, Hollywood producer of The Godfather, dies aged 89|last=Barnes|first=Brooks|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en|access-date=October 29, 2019}} Hoffman emulated Evans's work habits, mannerisms, quirks, clothing style, hairstyle, and his large square-framed eyeglasses. The real Evans is said to have declared, "I'm magnificent in this film!"{{cite news|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/91054?tid=relatedcl|title=Double Takes|date=March 2, 1998|work=Newsweek|access-date=October 17, 2008}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}
• The character Bob Ryan, portrayed by Martin Landau in the HBO series Entourage, who was a successful movie producer in the 1970s and now chafes at no longer being considered a major Hollywood player, was thought by some (including Evans himself) to be based on Evans.{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywood.com/news/tv/3547491/robert-evans-fumes-over-entourage-character|title=Robert Evans Fumes Over 'Entourage' Character|author=WENN|work=Hollywood.com}} However, series creator Doug Ellin denied this, saying that he wrote the part based on someone he met while making Kissing a Fool, not on Evans.{{Cite web |title=Doug Ellin's Ramble On: LET THE SALE BEGIN! on Apple Podcasts |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/let-the-sale-begin/id1582657701?i=1000564942775 |access-date=June 5, 2022 |website=Apple Podcasts |language=en-US}} Nevertheless, Evans reportedly received an offer to play the part himself (which he declined), and his house was used in the show as Bob Ryan's home.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/movies/03john.html|title=No Kid, but Robert Evans Still Stays in the Picture|date=September 3, 2006|work=The New York Times}}
• Evans served as the inspiration for a Mr. Show sketch in which Bob Odenkirk portrays God recording his memoirs, dressed as and speaking like Evans. Odenkirk also attributes Evans as his primary influence on his portrayal of lawyer Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad.{{cite web|url=http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/03/21/bob-odenkirks-inspiration-for-his-breaking-bad-character-was/|title=Television News, Reviews and TV Show Recaps{{Snd}} HuffPost TV|work=The Huffington Post}}
• Joe Eszterhas in his book, Hollywood Animal, writes that "all lies ever told anywhere about Robert Evans are true." His autobiography also goes into detail about a cocaine addiction that plagued Evans in the 1980s.{{cite web|url=http://www.nerve.com/filmlounge/interview/joeeszterhas|title=The Nerve Interview: Joe Eszterhas|date=September 15, 2006|publisher=Nerve.com|access-date=April 11, 2014}}
• Evans played himself in the film An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998).{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}
• Evans voiced a fictionalized caricature of himself in the animated series, Kid Notorious, alongside his real-life butler, Alan "English" Selka, and next-door neighbor, former Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Saul "Slash" Hudson.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}
• Evans appears in the 2005 Bruce Campbell novel Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way, with Campbell impersonating him to infiltrate the Paramount Studios lot.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}
• In 2010, Smuggler Films acquired the stage rights to Evans's memoirs, The Kid Stays in the Picture, and its sequel, The Fat Lady Sang (which was published in 2013). The play was to be written by Jon Robin Baitz.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/theater/11evans.html?hpw | work=The New York Times | title=A Hollywood Player Inspires a Broadway Play | first=Michael | last=Cieply | date=February 11, 2010 | access-date=May 22, 2010}} No further information has been released on the production.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}
• Bill Hader played a character inspired by Evans in the two-part season two finale of Documentary Now! that parodies The Kid Stays in the Picture.[https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/documentary-now/259582/documentary-now-season-finale-review-mr-runner-up-parts-1-and-2 Documentary Now! Season Finale Review: Mr. Runner Up Parts 1 and 2-Den of Geek][https://www.avclub.com/documentary-now-stays-in-the-picture-with-a-boffo-fina-1798189287 Documentary Now! stays in the picture with a boffo finale-AV Club][https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/news/a48556/documentary-now-bill-hader-fred-armisen/ Documentary Now! Isn't a Parody. It's Not an Homage. It's a Different Style of Comedy.-Esquire]
• Michael Douglas played a character that parodies Evans in the 2009 romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
• Matthew Goode portrays Evans in the 2022 Paramount+ miniseries The Offer which dramatizes the making of The Godfather.{{cite web | url=https://time.com/6171404/the-offer-true-story-godfather/ | title=The True Story Behind 'The Offer' | date=April 27, 2022 }}
• In The Boys, Paul Reiser plays a retired producer based on Robert Evans.

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

As head of production at Paramount

As studio executive

As an actor

Miscellaneous crew

Thanks

As an actor

As writer

Thanks

• The Kid Stays in the Picture{{Snd}} Hyperion Books, 1994, autobiography, also released as a 1994 audiobook read by Evans; adapted as a 2002 documentary film
• The Fat Lady Sang{{Snd}} It Books, 2013, publication date November 22, 2013, {{ISBN|9780062286048}}[http://lccn.loc.gov/2013018848 "The fat lady sang"]. Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved April 12, 2014.

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Robert Evans (producer)}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{IMDb name|0263172|Robert Evans}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140915192557/http://www.jumpboxtv.com/askbob Robert Evans web show] on JumpBoxTV
• {{cite magazine|magazine=Life |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=q1IEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA63 |title=Why should he have it |first=James |last=Mills |date=March 7, 1969 |pages=62–68, 70–72, 73–74, 76 |access-date=October 29, 2016}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120712014542/http://robertevanslegacyfansite.com/ Robert Evans: The Official Legacy Fan Site]
• {{LCAuth|n94019187|Robert Evans|9|}}

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