Robert EvansBirth Place: New York, New York, USA Date of Birth: June 29, 1930 Heritage: American Famous for: Producer of Oscar nominated 'Chinatown' (1974) Contact Robert Evans | 
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Producer of Chinatown Background: “The producer is the most important element of a film. It's the producer who hires the director. The producer buys the property; he hires the writer, the director. He’s involved in hiring all the actors, involved with production, costs, post-production and involved with marketing. He's on a film for four or five years and gets very little credit for it.” Roberts Evans Academy Award nominated film producer Robert Evans got his start as a child actor before becoming a successful clothing manufacturer in his twenties. His career as a studio executive began in 1966 when he was hired as vice-president in charge of production at Paramount. As head production of Paramount, a position he held until the mid 1970s, he was responsible for the notable films “The Odd Couple” (1968), “Rosemary's Baby” (1968), “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Conversation” (1974), among others. Evans, however, did not pick up his Oscar nomination until he produced Roman Polanski's classic “Chinatown” (1974), Evans' debut as an independent producer. A string of successful film followed, including “Marathon Man” (1976), “Black Sunday” (1977) and “Urban Cowboy” (1980), but he decided to take a long hiatus from producing after the commercial failure of “Cotton Club” (1984). Evans resurfaced six years later with the “Chinatown” sequel “The Two Jakes” (1990) and followed it up with “Silver” (1993), from which he received a Razzie nomination, “Jade” (1995), “The Phantom” (1996), “The Saint” (1997) and “The Out-of-Towners” (1999). In 2002, Evans narrated and was the subject of the Sundance screened documentary “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” which was based on his memoir of the same name and directed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgan. The film spawned the animated series “Kid Notorious” (Comedy Central, 2003), which he executive produced and starred in. Evans' more recent and upcoming producing credits include “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” (2003), “SecretStone” (2011) and “Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office” (2013). Evans was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002 for his contribution to motion pictures. The following year, he received the Mary Pickford Award from the Satellite Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Palm Beach International Film Festival and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Motion Pictures from the PGA Awards. On a more private note, Evans has been married many times, but none of his marriages lasted more than a few years. He has one son named Josh Evans with his third wife, actress Ali MacGraw.
Childhood and Family: The son of Archie Shapera and Florence, Robert Evans was born Robert J. Shapera on June 29, 1930, in New York City, New York. His father operated a dental clinic. Robert, known by family and close friends by the nickname Bobby, had an older brother named Charles Evans, who founded a women's sportswear company named Evan-Picone. His brother died of complication of pneumonia on June 2, 2007, at age 81. He also had a sister named Alice. Bobby has been married many times. He married actress Sharon Hugueny (born 1944, died 1996) on May 28, 1961, but they divorced on July 21, 1962. He was married to his second wife, actress Camilla Sparv, from 1963 to 1965 and actress Ali MacGraw (born April 1, 1938) from October 24, 1969 to 1972. His marriage to MacGraw produced one child, Josh Evans (born in 1971). He went on to marry Phyllis George (together from April 1977 to July 1978), Catherine Oxenberg (married on July 12, 1998, the marriage was annulled after nine days) and Leslie Ann Woodward (together from December 2002 to July 2004). Bobby married Lady Victoria White on August 6, 2005, in Mexico. His wife filed for divorce on June 16, 2006, citing irreconcilable differences.
Career: Robert Evans began performing on radio at age 11. He made his television acting debut on “Elizabeth and Essex” in 1947 and made his big screen debut with a small role in the 1952 Anne Francis vehicle “Lydia Bailey.” Disappointed with his career move, Evans decided to leave acting and took promotional work for Evan-Picone, a fashion company founded by his brother Charles. He would remain in the clothing business until 1967. Meanwhile, in 1956, Evans was discovered by actress Norma Shearer and selected to play her late husband, MGM producer Irving Thalberg, in “Man of a Thousand Faces” (1957). It was followed by the notable supporting role of Pedro Romero in “The Sun Also Rises” (also 1957). Evans next starred as Felix Griffin in the western “The Fiend Who Walked the West” (1958), opposite Hugh O'Brian and Linda Cristal, and portrayed the supporting role of Dexter Key in “The Best of Everything” (1959), a film directed by Jean Negulesco that starred Hope Lange, Stephen Boyd and Suzy Parker. After deciding acting was not his true calling, Evans branched out to producing in the 1960s and despite his relative lack of experience, was named vice-president in charge of production at Paramount Pictures in 1966. He went on to serve as the studio's executive vice-president in charge of worldwide production from 1971 to 1975 before leaving the studio to become a full time independent producer. During his stint as the head of production at Paramount, Evans oversaw a number of popular films, including Gene Saks' “Barefoot in the Park” (1967) and “The Odd Couple” (1968, starred Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau), Gordon Douglas' “The Detective” (1968, starred Frank Sinatra), Roman Polanski's “Rosemary's Baby” (1968, starred Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes), Peter Collinson's “The Italian Job” (1969, starred Michael Caine and Noël Coward), Henry Hathaway's “True Grit” (1969, starred John Wayne), Costa-Gavras' “The Confession” (1970, starred Yves Montand and Simone Signoret), Athur Hiller's “Love Story” (1970, starred his then-wife Ali MacGraw), and “Plaza Suite” (1971), Elaine May's “A New Leaf” (1971), Hal Ashby's “Harold and Maude” (1971), Sidney Lumet's “Serpico” (1973), John G. Avildsen's “Save the Tiger” (1973, starred Jack Lemmon and Jack Gilford), Jack Clayton's “The Great Gatsby” (1974), and Francis Ford Coppola's “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Conversation” (1974). As an independent producer, Evans scored a huge success with his debut film, “Chinatown,” a film from a screenplay by Robert Towne that starred Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston. Released on June 20, 1974, by Paramount, the film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture for Evans, and won the award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. It also collected four Golden Globes, three BAFTA Awards, a Bodil Award, an Edgar Allan Poe Award, a Fotogramas de Plata, a Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award, and a National Film Registry Award, to name a few awards and nominations. Later, in 2000, Evans was handed a PGA Hall of Fame - Motion Pictures from the PGA Awards for his work on the film. “Chinatown” grossed over $29 million against a budget of $3.2 million. After the success of “Chinatown,” Evans produced the John Schlesinger thriller “Marathon Man” (1976), an adaptation of William Goldman's novel of the same name. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Roy Scheider and Laurence Olivier, the film was a success and nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Olivier) and won a Golden Globe in the same category. It also received Golden Globe nominations for Best Director - Motion Picture, Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama, Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, among other recognitions. Evans picked up a David di Donatello in the category of Best Foreign Film (Miglior Film Straniero) for his producing effort. Next up for Evans, he produced the popular adaptation of Thomas Harris' novel “Black Sunday” (1977), which was directed by John Frankenheimer, scripted by Ernest Lehman, Kenneth Ross and Ivan Moffat, and starred Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern and Fritz Weaver, the Anthony Harvey directed drama “Players” (1979), starring his former wife Ali MacGraw, James Bridges' “Urban Cowboy” (1980), starring John Travolta and Debra Winger, and the unsuccessful live action film adaptation “Popeye” (1980), for director Robert Altman. “Popeye” starred Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall. Evan then made headlines in 1980 when he was arrested for trying to buy cocaine. After his clash with the law, Evans made his television producing debut with “Get High on Yourself” (1981). He returned to the big screen with the 1984 crime drama “Cotton Club.” The film, however, which starred Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins, Nicolas Cage and Laurence Fishburne, was a flop at the box office but did receive Oscar nominations for Best Film Editing and Best Art Direction - Set Decoration, Golden Globe nominations for Best Director - Motion Picture and Best Motion Picture - Drama, and a BAFTA award for Best Costume Design. Following a break of several years from producing, Evans arranged for Jack Nicholson to direct and star in “The Two Jakes” (1990), a sequel to the highly successful “Chinatown.” The film, however, was not a success. He went on to sign an exclusive five year independent producing deal with Paramount in 1991. Released by Paramount on May 21, 1993, the first film “Silver,” an adaptation of Ira Levin's novel with Phillip Noyce directing and Sharon Stone, William Baldwin and Tom Berenger starring in the movie, was widely panned by critics and earned seven Razzie nominations. However, the film was a success at the box office and grossed over $116 million worldwide against a budget of $40 million. The next film, “Jade,” (1995), an erotic thriller starring David Caruso and Linda Fiorentino that was directed by William Friedkin, was negatively reviewed by critics and nominated for Razzies in the categories of Worst Screenplay and Worst New Star. The Simon Wincer directed movie “The Phantom” (1996), starring Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Treat Williams and James Remar, scored only a little over $17 million against its budget of $45 million, while “The Saint” (1997), starring Val Kilmer, Elisabeth Shue, William Hope and Rade Šerbedžija, fared better internationally. The next film, a remake of the comedy classic “The Out-of-Towners” (1999), starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn and directed by Sam Weisman, was a critical and commercial disappointment. While on hiatus from active producing, Evans returned to acting after over four decades portraying himself in an episode of “Just Shoot Me” called “A&E Biography: Nina Van Horn,” which was broadcasted on May 9, 2000. Two years later, “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” a film adaptation of the 1994 book of the same name by Evans, was released under the direction of Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen. In addition to becoming the subject of the documentary, Evans also served as a narrator. In 2003, Evans returned to producing with “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” a popular romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey that was directed by Donald Petrie. The same year, he also provided the voice of the title character on Comedy Central's animated real life series “Kid Notorious.” The show, which he also executive produced, was nominated for a Golden Satellite for Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical. Evans is the executive producer of the upcoming horror film “SecretStone,” which is set to be released in 2011. He has also signed on to produce the upcoming comedy “Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office” (2013), an adaptation of a book written by Lois Frankel.
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