Chinatown Producer and Paramount Chief Robert Evans Dies at 89

Robert Evans, the Paramount executive who produced “Chinatown” and “Urban Cowboy,” and whose life became as melodramatic and jaw-dropping as any of his films, died on Saturday night. He was 89.

"Our son, Joshua, and I will miss Bob tremendously," his ex-wife, actress Ali MacGraw, said in a statement, "and we are so very proud of his enormous contribution to the film Industry. He will be remembered as a giant."

Evans seemed to epitomize Hollywood excesses with his seven marriages, outspoken nature and freewheeling lifestyle that he documented in his 1994 memoir, "The Kid Stays in the Picture." (The book was later developed into a 2002 biopic.)

In 1966, the former actor and co-owner of a women's fashion company was named head of production at Paramount at age 36, and he rescued the teetering studio during a magical nine-year tenure, catapulting it from ninth and last place among the majors to No. 1 at the box office.

His life was a continuous roller-coaster. Amid the successes, Ali MacGraw left him for Steve McQueen, her co-star in the 1972 “The Getaway,” a love triangle that got huge media attention. (MacGraw was the third of Evans’ seven wives.) In 1980, Evans was arrested for cocaine possession and a few years later, was involved in an even bigger scandal: the murder of would-be Hollywood player Roy Radin during the production of “The Cotton Club.” Due to his association with Radin, Evans became a material witness in the execution-style slaying, though no proof of Evans’ knowledge of or connection to the murder was ever established.

Born in New York City to a dentist and his wife, Evans was a child actor on radio and in the early years of television. When stardom eluded him, Evans took a job promoting sales for Evan-Picone, a clothing company co-owned by his brother, Charles.

He was married seven times, with his wives including Love Story star MacGraw, Catherine Oxenberg of ABC's Dynasty and former Miss America Phyllis George. None of his marriages survived more than three years; his union with Oxenberg lasted a little more than a week.

Evans was born Robert Shapera in New York. Before the age of 18, he had worked on more than 300 radio shows and the occasional TV show and play. A collapsed lung forced him to recuperate for a year, and when he returned, he realized he’d lost his momentum. He worked his charms as a salesman at the sportswear firm Evan-Picone, co-founded by his brother Charles.

Evans wrote in his memoir that Hemingway and the cast's attempt to get him thrown off the picture led to the line he used to title his biography after producer Zanuck declared, "The kid stays in the picture." A few unsatisfying and unsatisfactory supporting roles would end his acting career and Evans turned to producing.

After being demoted at Paramount in a reshuffling that saw Barry Diller eventually assume control, Evans produced such standouts as Marathon Man (1976), Black Sunday (1977) and Urban Cowboy (1980) for the studio.

He befriended and charmed Charles Bluhdorn of Gulf & Western, which owned Paramount Pictures. The born salesman recognized another born salesman when he met him. In 1966 Bluhdorn controversially named the neophyte Evans VP in charge of production. By 1969 he was exec VP of worldwide production.

In 1976, he told the New York Times that his time as an actor led to him being the butt of many jokes when he first went to work for Paramount in 1966. "People said, 'That B‐actor is suddenly becoming an executive,'" Evens told the publication. "When I came into Paramount, they thought I'd last six months." Instead, he went on to turn the studio around thanks to his deft hand at acquiring and producing hits.

In November 2013, It Books released his latest memoir, The Fat Lady Sang, which detailed his recovery from a near-fatal stroke suffered while he hosted a dinner for director Wes Craven in 1998. He credited media tycoon Sumner Redstone for convincing him he could recover.