Robert Evans

Robert Evans – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Explore the fascinating life of Robert Evans (1930–2019) — from a fashion businessman turned actor, to Paramount studio head, to producer of The Godfather, Chinatown, and Rosemary’s Baby. Learn about his rise, fall, resurgence, philosophy, famous quotes, and lasting legacy.

Introduction

Robert Evans (born Robert J. Shapera on June 29, 1930; died October 26, 2019) was an American film producer and studio executive whose influence on Hollywood spans several eras.

Though sometimes labeled an “actor” in casual accounts, Evans is far more renowned for his role behind the scenes: revitalizing Paramount Pictures in the late 1960s and producing a string of iconic films including Rosemary’s Baby, The Godfather, and Chinatown.

Evans’s life was dramatic — full of triumphs, scandals, reinventions, and self-mythologizing. This makes his story one of Hollywood’s most compelling.

Early Life and Family

Robert Evans was born Robert J. Shapera on June 29, 1930, in New York City.

His mother was Florence (née Krasne), and his father Archie Shapera, a dentist in Harlem. He grew up on the Upper West Side during the Great Depression years, in a family of Russian Jewish heritage.

Evans changed his surname early on: his father asked him and his brother to adopt the grandmother's maiden name “Evan,” and they added an “s” to Americanize it.

In his youth, Evans worked doing radio voice work, appearing in more than 300 radio shows by age 18, taking advantage of his clear voice and accent skills.

He also worked in the fashion business: collaborating with his brother Charles in their women’s clothing enterprise (Evan-Picone).

Acting Beginnings & Discovery

Evans’s entry into film acting was almost accidental:

• In 1956, while on a business trip (as part of his fashion ventures), he was spotted poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel by actress Norma Shearer. Impressed, she recommended him to play her late husband Irving Thalberg in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957).

• At about the same time, Darryl F. Zanuck cast him as Pedro Romero in The Sun Also Rises (1957).

• However, Evans himself doubted his acting talents. Soon, he shifted direction toward production — feeling his strengths lay behind rather than in front of the camera.

Rise to Paramount & Studio Leadership

Evans’s big break as a producer came in the 1960s:

• He acquired the rights to a novel The Detective (1966) and helped turn it into a film. That served as an entrée into production.

• In 1967, Gulf + Western (Paramount’s parent) restructured Paramount Pictures. Evans was appointed to a key production role, helping turn around the struggling studio.

• Under his leadership, Paramount produced several hits and critical successes: Rosemary’s Baby, The Odd Couple, Love Story, Harold and Maude, The Italian Job, True Grit, The Godfather, The Conversation, Chinatown, among others.

• Evans was known for bold deals, aggressive promotion, and willingness to gamble on ambitious projects. Some saw him as flamboyant, others as a savior of Paramount.

By 1972, he negotiated a deal allowing him to remain an executive but also to produce independently. He eventually stepped down as production chief in 1974 to focus on his own projects.

Independent Producing & Downturns

After leaving executive leadership, Evans produced under his own banner. Some of his notable independent works:

• Chinatown (1974) — regarded as one of the crowning achievements of that era.

• Marathon Man (1976)

• Black Sunday (1977)

• Popeye (1980) and Urban Cowboy (1980)

However, Evans’ career faced a major setback in 1980, when he pled guilty to a cocaine trafficking misdemeanor.

During the 1980s, his output was sparse and largely unsuccessful:

• He produced The Cotton Club (1984), which had a troubled production and financial underperformance.

• The Two Jakes (1990) was another ambitious project that failed to recapture earlier glory.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, he gradually revived his producing presence, though often in more commercial or lighter fare:

• Sliver (1993), Jade (1995), The Phantom (1996), The Saint (1997), and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) were among his credits.

He also ventured into voice work and media: e.g. Kid Notorious (animated), a show in which he played a fictionalized version of himself.

Personal Life, Health & Death

Marriages & Family

Evans had a famously tumultuous personal life:

• He was married seven times.

• His first marriage was to Sharon Hugueny (1961–1962).

• Other marriage partners included Camilla Sparv, Ali MacGraw (with whom he had one child, Josh Evans), Phyllis George, Catherine Oxenberg (annulled after days), Leslie Ann Woodward, and Victoria White.

Health, Stroke & Later Years

On May 6, 1998, during a dinner party honoring director Wes Craven, Evans suffered a stroke, from which he was initially paralyzed and unable to speak. He flatlined in the ambulance, was revived, and eventually made a remarkable recovery — regaining speech and ability to function.

In his later years, Evans’s health declined: he used a cane for mobility and had limited physical stamina.

Robert Evans died on October 26, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 89.

Legacy & Influence

Robert Evans’s legacy is a mixture of cinematic triumphs, blockbuster intuition, flamboyant persona, and cautionary tales. Some key points:

• He played a significant role in the New Hollywood era — guiding a studio (Paramount) to become culturally and commercially relevant.

• Films he greenlit or produced (The Godfather, Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby, Love Story) have become classics and are often cited in film history as keystones.

• His memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture (1994) and its subsequent documentary adaptation turned his life into myth, further embedding him into Hollywood lore.

• He is a cautionary example of how excess, ambition, and scandal can both elevate and undermine a career in show business.

• His style, mannerisms, and public persona have inspired characters in film and television. For instance, The Offer (Paramount+) dramatizes his involvement in The Godfather.

Famous Quotes

Here are a few memorable lines and statements attributed to Robert Evans:

• On resilience and identity: “The Kid stays in the picture.” (title line of his memoir)

• On power and ambition: Evans’s style often emphasized boldness and presence; though he is more quoted in narratives about his persona than for concise aphorisms.

• In the wake of his stroke, when asked how he felt: Anecdotally, at the dinner where he collapsed he joked, “Told you, Wes, it ain’t ever dull around here.”

Because Evans cultivated his own legend, many of his statements come through his memoir, interviews, and the stylized accounts of The Kid Stays in the Picture.

Lessons from Robert Evans

1. Vision & risk can change institutions
   Evans’ bold decision-making helped revitalize Paramount and deliver enduring films.

2. Personality is part of the brand
   He understood that in Hollywood, the persona you project can be a tool — for better or worse.

3. Success is fragile
   His rise was meteoric, but excess, scandal, and missteps contributed to his fall.

4. Reinvention is possible
   Despite scandal and health crises, Evans worked to return to Hollywood relevance later in life.

5. Storytelling is multi-layered
   Evans proved that the life behind the scenes — the politics, the gambles, the fallouts — can be as dramatic as film narratives themselves.

Conclusion

Robert Evans’s life reads like a Hollywood film — dramatic turns, tremendous success, scandal, fall, and attempted redemption. As a producer and studio executive, he shaped some of cinema’s most enduring works. As a character in his own story, he cultivated myth, conflict, and charisma.

His journey offers both inspiration and warning: greatness in film is as much about choices and durability as it is about vision.