Robert Evans, the fast-living Hollywood producer who backed such seminal Seventies films as Chinatown, The Godfather and Harold and Maude, has died aged 89.
The producer died on Saturday, a representative confirmed.
Evans's career was a story of comebacks and reinventions. He first launched a successful women’s clothing line with his brother, Charles, until Norma Shearer picked him to portray her late husband, movie mogul Irving Thalberg, in Man of a Thousand Faces, the 1957 film about the horror movie star Lon Chaney.
After acting roles faded, Evans re-emerged as head of production at Paramount Pictures and quickly converted the studio from a maker of mediocre films to the biggest hit machine in Hollywood, home to The Godfather and Love Story among others.
Years later, and with many flops in between, he produced the 2003 film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.
In 1997, Evans was widely believed the model for Dustin Hoffman’s petty-minded Hollywood producer in the satire Wag the Dog.
Evans was married seven times. His wives included actresses Ali MacGraw, Catherine Oxenberg and former Miss America Phyllis George.
He penned the 1994 memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture, which was turned into a documentary in 2002.
Additional reporting by agencies
