Robert Evans (film producer)

Robert Evans
Evans in July 2012
Born	Robert J. Shapera (1930-06-29) June 29, 1930 (age 86) New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Film producer, studio executive
Years active	1950s–present
Spouse(s)	Sharon Hugueny (m. 1961; div. 1962) Camilla Sparv (m. 1964; div. 1967) Ali MacGraw (m. 1969; div. 1973) Phyllis George (m. 1977; div. 1978) Catherine Oxenberg (m. 1998; annulled 1998) Leslie Ann Woodward (m. 2002; div. 2004) Lady Victoria White (m. 2005; div. 2006)
Children	Josh Evans

Robert Evans (born June 29, 1930) is an American film producer and former studio executive, best known for his work on Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather and Chinatown.

Evans began his career in a successful business venture with his brother, selling women's apparel. In 1956, while on a business trip, he was by chance spotted by actress Norma Shearer, who thought he would be right to play the role of her late husband Irving Thalberg (appropriately, another film mogul) in Man of a Thousand Faces. Thus he began a brief film acting career. In 1962, Evans decided to go into film producing instead, using his accumulated wealth from the clothing business, and began a meteoric rise in the industry; he was installed as the head of Paramount Pictures in 1967. While there, he improved the ailing Paramount's fortunes through a string of commercially and critically acclaimed films. In 1974 he stepped down in order to produce films on his own.

In 1980 Evans' career, and life, took a downturn after he pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking; over the next 12 years, he produced only two films, both financial flops: The Cotton Club and the Chinatown sequel The Two Jakes. In 1993 he began to produce films on a more regular basis, with a mixed track record that included both flops (such as Jade in 1995) and hits (such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days in 2003, his most recent film).

Evans was born Robert J. Shapera in New York City, New York, the son of Florence, a housewife who came from a wealthy family, and Archie Shapera, a dentist in Harlem. He has described both of his parents as "second-generation Jews." He grew up on New York City's Upper West Side during the 1930s, where he was better off than most people living during the Great Depression. In his early years, he did promotional work for Evan-Picone, a fashion company founded by his brother Charles, in addition to doing voice work on radio shows.