Best Known As: The fast-living movie producer who made Chinatown
Name at birth: Robert Shapera
In the 1970s Bob Evans was the movie producer responsible for some of the biggest box office successes of the era, including Rosemary's Baby (1968, directed by Roman Polanski), Love Story (1970), The Godfather (1972, directed by Francis Ford Coppola) and Chinatown (1974, starring Jack Nicholson). Evans was a women's sportswear executive when he was "discovered" by actress Norma Shearer and chosen to play the role of Irving Thalberg in the Lon Chaney biopic Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). After a few appearances on screen, Evans quit the garment industry and became a movie producer, first at 20th Century Fox, then at Paramount. In the late '60s he was responsible for a string of successes, including Barefoot in the Park (1967, starring Robert Redford) The Odd Couple (1968, with Jack Lemmon) and Goodbye Columbus (1969). A smooth swinger and raconteur, Evans is a living character as well as a successful movie producer: he married five times, he was arrested for cocaine possession in the '70s, he was involved as a material witness in a Hollywood murder in the '80s and somehow he bounced back in the '90s. He has continued to produce movies, including Sliver (1993, starring Sharon Stone), The Saint (1997) and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003, with Kate Hudson), but these days Evans is more famous for being himself, thanks to the success of an autobiographical book and a documentary, The Kid Stays in the Picture (2003), and to a 2003 animated TV series based loosely on his life, Kid Notorious.
Career Highlights: Chinatown, Man of a Thousand Faces, Marathon Man
First Major Screen Credit: Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)
Biography
A 1970s player, a 1980s flameout, and a 1990s survivor, studio executive-turned-producer Robert Evans' flamboyant life is as checkered as his mercurial career. Born Robert Shapera in New York City, Evans was a child actor, but he gave it up and went into the clothing business with his brother at age 21. Despite their success, Evans returned to acting when Norma Shearer chose him to play Irving Thalberg in the Lon Chaney biopic Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). Although Evans had the movie-star looks, he lacked the talent to move beyond a smattering of small roles, including in The Sun Also Rises (1957). Still entranced by the movie business, however, Evans left the clothing company and went to work at 20th Century-Fox.
Despite his relative lack of experience, Evans was made the head of production at floundering Paramount in 1966. Under his Thalberg-esque watch, the rejuvenated studio turned out some of the most important hits of the late 1960s and early '70s, including Rosemary's Baby (1968), Love Story (1970), and The Godfather (1972). As skillful at drawing attention to himself, Evans held court at his estate with wife Ali MacGraw, and publicly clashed with Francis Ford Coppola over who was responsible for The Godfather's artistry. Though Evans was humiliated when MacGraw dumped him for Steve McQueen after The Getaway (1972), he still rode high professionally, striking a deal with Paramount that allowed him to produce as well as maintain his executive title. Setting the bar perhaps too high, Evans' first production was the Roman Polanski-directed, Robert Towne-scripted, revisionist noir Chinatown (1974), one of the outstanding works of the 1970s. Though Chinatown brought Paramount Oscar nominations and some box office (though no Best Picture statuette), Evans' dual role became problematic. He turned solely to producing, scoring two more hits with the thrillers Marathon Man (1976) and Black Sunday (1977). Evans also helped resurrect John Travolta's career (for the first time) with the moderately successful, trend-setting production Urban Cowboy (1980).
Evans' downfall began when he was busted for cocaine possession during the production of Popeye (1980), a box-office failure. Evans' real Waterloo, however, was The Cotton Club (1984). Meant to be Evans' directorial debut, Evans called in Coppola early on to save the already troubled production. Instead, the shoot spiraled out of control as the script was endlessly rewritten, the budget doubled, and Evans and Coppola fought publicly, not to mention the fact that Evans was also implicated in the murder of a funding source. Evans beat the rap, but he couldn't beat the bad publicity or The Cotton Club's mediocre performance. After he was fired in 1985 from his co-starring role in the Chinatown sequel The Two Jakes, Evans seemed to be finished. Evans re-emerged in 1990 when The Two Jakes was finally made, but it failed to even approach the original's impact. Still, Evans hung on throughout the 1990s, producing such glossy formula films as Sliver (1993), The Saint (1997), and The Out-of-Towners (1999), and publishing his juicy autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture, in 1994. Evans' personal life also attracted attention with his ultra-brief marriage to actress Catherine Oxenberg in 1998. Along with MacGraw and Oxenberg, Evans' five wives have included former Miss America Phyllis George. As always the resilient survivor, Evans was in the spotlight again in 2002 with the release of the documentary film version of The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002). Produced with Evans' full support, and narrated by Evans in his famously gravelly, Noo Yawk-inflected tones, The Kid Stays in the Picture neatly combined still photographs, clips from Evans' most notable films, and an evocative visual tour of his beloved house to paint a dynamic, if not always fully revelatory, portrait of Evans' eventful life in the movies. Well received on the film festival circuit, The Kid Stays in the Picture opened to rave reviews in July 2002 and became an art house success. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Evans was born Robert J. Shapera in New York City, New York, the son of Florence (née Evans), a housewife who came from a wealthy family, and Archie Shapera, a dentist in Harlem.[1] 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 his early years, he did promotional work for Evan Picone, a fashion company founded by his brother, in addition to doing voice work on radio shows.
Dissatisfied with his own acting talent, he determined to become a producer. He got his start as a producer by purchasing the rights to a 1966 novel entitled The Detective which Evans made into a movie starring Frank Sinatra in 1968. Peter Bart, a writer for the New York Times, wrote an article about Evans’ aggressive production style. This got Evans noticed by Charles Bluhdorn, who was head of the Gulf+Western conglomerate, and hired Evans as part of a shakeup at Paramount Pictures.
Unsatisfied with his financial compensation coupled with a desire to produce films under his own banner, Evans struck a deal with Paramount that enabled him to stay on as studio head while also working as an independent producer. Other producers at Paramount felt this gave Evans an unfair advantage. Eventually Evans stepped down, which enabled him to produce films on his own. He went on to produce such films as: Chinatown, Marathon Man, Black Sunday, Popeye, Urban Cowboy, The Cotton Club, The Two Jakes, Sliver, Jade, The Phantom, The Saint, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Evans began to fall on hard times in the early 1980s, when during the production of Popeye, he was convicted for attempting to buy cocaine. Things got even worse for him when he began filming The Cotton Club. Evans was slated to direct, but due to production complications Francis Ford Coppola was called in during the filming. The budget for the film soared and Coppola and Evans fought endlessly. Evans was peripherally linked to the murder of Roy Radin, an investor in The Cotton Club, who was murdered by Bill Mentzer and Alex Marti. The two convicts accused Evans of involvement. Evans pleaded the Fifth Amendment and was sent home. Evans wrote in his 1994 autobiography The Kid Stays in the Picture that he was a "tangential character, at best" in regard to the case.
Evans continues to produce; the last film that he produced was released in 2003. He also produced and provided the voice for his eponymous character in the animated series Kid Notorious. Evans currently hosts the Sirius Satellite Radio show In Bed with Robert Evans.
Personal life
Evans has been married seven times but none of his marriages have lasted more than three years. His first was to Sharon Hugueny (1961-1962). After his first divorce came: Camilla Sparv (1963-1965), Ali MacGraw (1969-1972), Phyllis George (1977-1978), Catherine Oxenberg (1998),[3] Leslie Ann Woodward (2002-2004) and Victoria White (2005-2006). Evans' marriage to Oxenberg was annulled after nine days.[4] He married White in Mexico on August 2005, shortly after his 75th birthday; she filed for divorce on June 16, 2006, citing irreconcilable differences.[citation needed]
Joe Eszterhas repeatedly describes his friend, Evans, as "the devil" in this book, Hollywood Animal, and goes on to say that "all lies ever told anywhere about Robert Evans are true."
Meredith Rhule, his personal in-home movie projectionist, indicates that Robert Evans absolutely knows how to impress potential movie backers. "I have seen almost every movie star, top models, heads of studios and heads of states walk into his home. Bob Evans is the Godfather of Hollywood."
In the 1997 movie Wag the Dog, a Washington, D.C.spin doctor distracts the electorate from a U.S. presidential sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood producer played by Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman's character was based directly upon Robert Evans; Hoffman emulated Evans' 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!"[5]
In the late 1980s, Evans was the choice for the second Jake alongside Jack Nicholson in The Two Jakes, the sequel to Chinatown, however he was denied the part.
Publications
The Kid Stays in the Picture (Autobiography, 1994; also released as a popular audio book, read by the author; made into film in 2002
