Robert Evans (film producer)

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Robert Evans (2012)

Robert Evans , originally Robert J. Shapera , nicknamed The Kid (born June 29, 1930 in New York City , † October 26, 2019 in Beverly Hills ) was an American film producer , actor and presenter . In the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the most successful film producers and was involved in classic films such as Rosemary's Baby , Love Story , The Godfather and Chinatown .

life and work

Early life and acting career

Evans grew up as a child of Jewish parents in the West End of New York. His father had a prosperous dental practice in Harlem , and his mother came from a wealthy family. He also had an older brother and a younger sister. At some point, the father decided to rename the entire Shapera family after his mother's maiden name Evans , which is legally possible in the United States.

Even as a child, Robert Evans, who was very good at imitating voices, wanted to be an actor. As a 12-year-old he got a speaking role as a Nazi officer in a radio production . At the age of 14, he was a permanent employee of the radio show Let's Pretend , which was popular in the 1940s .

After graduating from high school , he first moved to Miami Beach and became a DJ in a large hotel. For a while he worked for his brother Charles ' fashion company and set up a boutique in Hollywood , among other things . At a swimming pool, he happened to meet the influential ex-actress Norma Shearer , widow of the late Hollywood tycoon Irving Thalberg . She recognized in the young Evans some resemblance to their early deceased man and gave him in 1957 the role of Irving Thalberg in the biopic The man with 1,000 faces ( The Man of Thousand Faces , directed by Joseph Pevney ) over the silent film star Lon Chaney , played by James Cagney . The film was a flop , however, and Evans received scathing reviews for its portrayal.

Nevertheless, with the help of influential friends, he managed to get a supporting role in an A-movie again that same year . In Between Madrid and Paris (The Sun Also Rises) directed by Henry King based on the novel Fiesta by Ernest Hemingway , he spun off his lover Ava Gardner as the bullfighter Pedro Romero Tyrone Power . Although the film was very successful, The Kid (as studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck had named him because of his "milk face") did not get any further as an actor.

Career as a film producer

After a few more insignificant roles, he ended his acting career. He turned to film production and with great success. In the 1960s he became Vice President of Paramount Pictures and was responsible for the production of numerous large projects. During the 1970s he led Paramount from ninth place to first place on the scale of the ten most financially successful studios in Hollywood. Under his aegis , blockbusters and cult films such as Rosemary's Baby (1968), Love Story (1970), Harold and Maude (1971), The Godfather (1972), Serpico (1973), The Godfather - Part II (1974) and The Great Gatsby were made (1974). Evans resigned from Paramount in 1974 to work as a freelance producer on films such as Chinatown (1974), The Marathon Man (1976) and Urban Cowboy (1980). Through his financial involvement in many of the film projects, Evans became a wealthy man. Evans gave the directors of his productions, often young filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola , a relatively large amount of creative freedom by Hollywood standards. He is therefore also recognized for having laid the basic requirements for the development of the " New Hollywood " cinema, which was shaped by the directors' great creative scope.

His star in Hollywood began to decline in the 1980s, especially as Evans went over budget on many of his lavishly produced films. After gigantic financial losses in 1984 through Coppola's film Cotton Club with Richard Gere in the lead role, Evans found it difficult to realize any other film projects for a long time. In the 1990s, his former colleague Stanley Jaffe - now head of Paramount - brought him back so that he was able to realize a number of projects: Among other things, he produced Sliver - Greed of the eyes (1993) with Sharon Stone , Schlaflos in New York (1999) with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn and How do I get rid of him - in 10 days? (2003) with Kate Hudson , all of whom were at least notable successes. He worked on more films afterwards, but how do I get rid of him? remained his last major film project. Evans still marketed his later films with the support of Paramount, in July 2019 this collaboration was discontinued after 52 years, especially since Evans' health was already weak at that time.

The 1994 published by Evans autobiography The Kid Stays in the Picture ( English for The Ballad of Cable Hogue , 1995 vgs , Cologne, appeared) was one in the US bestseller and 2002 also successful to a documentary processed the same title, the number of awards received. Evans gave a very interesting insight into the "dream factory", handed it out to colleagues and reported on his life full of ups and downs. The book and film gave the eccentric Hollywood veteran a late comeback , especially as a self-promoter. In 2003, the weird comic series Kid Notorious , conceived and spoken by him, ran on American television , in which Evans was involved in bizarre James Bond-style adventures . However, this was discontinued after a season. At Sirius Satellite Radio in 2004, he hosted a radio show entitled In Bed with Robert Evans .

Private life

In his private life, the bustling Evans always made headlines through countless affairs with starlets and stars . Grace Kelly , Ava Gardner , Lana Turner , Soraya , Joan Collins and Lois Chiles were among his "conquests", with which he was usually only in a relationship for a few weeks . In the 1970s he had a long relationship with the Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann .

By 2005 Evans had been married a total of seven times, but none of his marriages lasted more than three years. His first marriage to Sharon Hugueny lasted from 1961 to 1962. After his first divorce he was married to Camilla Sparv from 1963 to 1965 and from 1969 to 1972 to Ali MacGraw , whom he made a star with the film Love Story . With her he had a son, Joshua Evans, who is also active in the film business as a film producer, screenwriter and director. From 1977 to 1978 he was married to the well-known sports journalist and former Miss America , Phyllis George . In 1998 he entered into a bizarre short marriage with Denver Clan star Catherine Oxenberg . Evans' marriage to Oxenberg was canceled after nine days. He was then married to Leslie Ann Woodward from 2002 to 2004 and to Victoria White from 2005 to 2006, whom he married in August 2005 shortly after his 75th birthday in Mexico. However, she filed for divorce on June 16, 2006 because of “irreconcilable differences”. In Brett Morgen's film adaptation of Ali MacGraw's autobiography The Kid Stays in the Picture, Evans' relationships are also elaborated.

In the 1980s, drug problems , stays in prisons and psychiatry, Mafia contacts and the murder of his Cotton Club business partner Roy Radin  - for whom Evans was at times a suspect - repeatedly caused negative headlines for the former tycoon. In the meantime it had calmed down around him. In 1998 he suffered a stroke, from which he recovered in the course of therapy.

Robert Evans counted some Hollywood greats like Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty as well as the French film star Alain Delon among his friends.

Evans died in California in October 2019 at the age of 89.

Works

  • The end of the bill will be settled. A Hollywood tycoon remembers. vgs, Cologne 1994 (English original title: The Kid Stays in the Picture. Hyperion, New York 1994)

Filmography (selection)

As an actor

As a producer

Web links

Commons : Robert Evans  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andrew Pulver: Robert Evans, celebrated Hollywood producer of Chinatown, dies aged 89. In: theguardian.com. The Guardian , October 28, 2019, accessed October 28, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Dirk Peitz: Robert Evans: A legendary man. In: zeit.de. Die Zeit , October 29, 2019, accessed on October 29, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Russ Espinoza: Paramount Cuts Ties With Storied Producer Robert Evans After 52 Years. In: forbes.com. Forbes , July 31, 2019, accessed October 28, 2019 .
  4. ^ A b Army Archerd: Evans and Oxenberg to say 'I DO'. In: variety.com . Variety , July 13, 1998, accessed October 29, 2019.
  5. ^ Army Archerd: Evans, Oxenberg untie the knot. In: variety.com . Variety , July 27, 1998, accessed October 29, 2019.
  6. ↑ Divorce No. 7 for producer Robert Evans. In: people.com . People , June 19, 2006, accessed October 29, 2019.
  7. ↑ Urs Jenny: Friday the thirteenth . In: Spiegel Online . tape 34 , August 20, 1990 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 28, 2019]).
  8. ↑ Richard Natale and Carmel Dagan: Robert Evans, 'Chinatown' Producer and Paramount Chief, Dies at 89. In: variety.com. Variety , October 28, 2019, accessed October 28, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Brooks Barnes: Robert Evans, a Maverick Producer of Hollywood Classics, Dies at 89. In: nytimes.com. The New York Times , October 28, 2019, accessed October 29, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Evans, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Shapera, Robert J. (maiden name); The Kid (nickname); Bobby (nickname); Evans, Bob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film producer, actor, and presenter
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 2019
Place of death Beverly Hills , California , United States