Legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans has passed away. Best known for producing films such as “The Godfather,” “Chinatown,” and “Urban Cowboy,” Evans lived a life whose exploits and tribulations matched those of the films he produced.
Evans was an up and coming actor with “matinee-idol” good looks, though his acting career never really took off. Despite having no prior executive experience, Evans was given control of Paramount Pictures in the 1960s, turning the studio around after a tumultuous time period. He went on the produce a series of memorable films in the 1970s including “The Odd Couple,” “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Love Story.”
His personal life was marked with drug-use, womanizing and scandals. Over his life, Evans was married and divorces seven times. In 1972, his girlfriend, actress Ali MacGraw, left him for her “The Getaway” co-star Steve McQueen. The 1980’s found Evans arrested for for cocaine use, and had him as a material witness in the murder of promoter Roy Radin during the production of “The Cotton Club.”
Evans returned to Paramount in the 1990’s, producing films such as “The Saint” and “Sliver,” though his career was never as robust as it had been years earlier. He peaked one more time with 2003’s “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” Evans’ reading of his autobiography “The Kid Stays in the Picture” was used as the basis for the documentary film of the same name. That film’s success led to a short-lived animated series on Comedy Central called “Kid Notorious,” in which Evans voiced a highly-exaggerated version of himself.
Robert Evans was 89 years old.