R.I.P. Robert Evans (1930-2019)

Robert Evans

On October 26, 2019, movie producer Robert Evans died at the age of 89 in Beverly Hills, California. For a certain generation, he is one of the most essential voices in filmmaking, helping to turn Paramount Studios around from a failing studio into a trendsetting enterprise. Among his most renowned work is producing influential films like Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather and Part II, and Chinatown. While his personal and eccentric life fought for attention in the press, his work spoke for itself and helped to define a certain aesthetic in the New Hollywood movement. Without him, a lot of masterpieces likely wouldn't have been made, or look very different. He leaves behind an enviable body of masterpieces, and he will be missed. 

Evans was born on June 29, 1930, in New York City, New York to "second-generation Jews." Despite growing up during the Great Depression, he was part of a family that didn't suffer much from the economic woes. Some of his early work included performing radio ads, of which he claimed to have done over 300 radio shows before he was 18. He also sold women's apparel which was to be his initial gig. This was true until he was discovered by Norma Shearer and was asked to portray her husband Irving Thalberg in The Man of a Thousand Faces. This kicked off a brief acting career in 1955 that lasted for a few years before he realized that he wasn't a great actor and sought to do more behind the scenes work.

He started as head of the production at Paramount by purchasing the rights to "The Detective," which would become a movie with Frank Sinatra, Lee Remick, and Robert Duvall. He became so notorious for how he produced movies that Peter Bart wrote a piece for The New York Times about him, which got him noticed by Charles Bluhdorn at Gulf+Western, who developed a shake-up with Paramount.  At the time, Paramount was the ninth-largest studio and was considered to be failing. When he took over at the studio, he began a string of critically acclaimed movies that set the precedent for trendsetting movies such as Barefoot in the Park, True Grit, and Love Story to name just a few. His constant critical acclaim and box office success made him one of the most influential producers of the era.

After gaining acclaim throughout the decade, Evans decided to move into independent producing with Paramount's blessing. This allowed him to be more hands-on, and it lead to a lot of further hits including Marathon Man, Black Sunday, and Urban Cowboy. His most successful film as a producer was Chinatown, which would earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Picture (he would also produce the Oscar-winning film that year, The Godfather Part II, though he wasn't nominated for it). He has since become associated with Chinatown as a personal film that he helped get off the ground. He would continue to produce films up through 2003, though his later output was few and far between and also more uneven in terms of success.

The 1980s were his most notorious period, which he claimed was "10 years of a horrific life, Kafkaesque." He was riddled with controversies one after the other. Along with multiple marriages, he was accused of drug trafficking. It was believed that he would be called "Cocaine" Evans when he died despite the crime being wiped from his record. He would also be involved in the Cotton Club murders. This was involved in the death of Roy Radin, who wanted to break into the business with director Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club. However, a complicated murder trial meant that Evans was guilty by association. He was cleared of the charge.

Later work for Evans includes the memoir "The Kid Stays in the Picture," which also turned into a movie of the same name. In both cases, it involved him telling stories from his time in the business, including all of the aforementioned achievements. It has taken on a life of its own, as Documentary Now! has parodied it, and films like The Other Side of the Wind and Wag the Dog have used Evans as a source of parody. While he would continue to work following a stroke, he wasn't nearly as prolific as his earlier days. Still, he was a renowned icon and considered to be the last tycoon of Hollywood for how intense he was to work with and how quickly he managed to produced masterpiece after masterpiece.

Evans is a crucial piece of Hollywood history that is hard to ignore. Not only are his films great, but his larger than life personality meant that anyone who met him wouldn't forget him easily. He was capable of making films that have since become renowned. Even if his later work was more spotty, he leaves behind an incredible track record that is hard to ignore because of how it helped to make Coppola and various other passionate filmmakers get their visions off the ground. He leaves behind one of the greatest legacies of the New Hollywood movement, managing to make Paramount into a sustainable studio in the process. He may have been eccentric, but his work speaks for himself and will likely stay that way for decades to come.