Robert Evans' rise from second-string actor (who really was discovered while lounging by the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel) to head of one of Hollywood's biggest movie studios is told from the viewpoint of Evans himself in this documentary, adapted from his autobiography (and featuring Evans' own narration). In 1957, Evans had already achieved success in the garment business when actress
Norma Shearer spotting him at poolside and suggested he should play her late husband, legendary producer Irving Thalberg, in the movie
Man of a Thousand Faces. While Evans knew he wasn't cut out to be an actor, he discovered he liked the movie business, and after becoming a film industry executive, Evans was named head of production at Paramount in the late '60s. Under Evans' leadership, Paramount produced such classics as
Rosemary's Baby,
Love Story, and
The Godfather. He also married actress Ali McGraw; however, McGraw left Evans for
Steve McQueen after they starred together in
The Getaway. After leaving Paramount to become a producer (and racking up hits like
Chinatown and
Marathon Man), Evans' golden touch began to elude him; an arrest for drugs seemed to put an end to his career, until he made a comeback as a freelance producer in the 1990s on such films as
Sliver and
The Saint. Part of the narration for The Kid Stays in the Picture was drawn from the book-on-tape version of
Robert Evans' autobiography of the same name, which featured Evans reading his own work; the audio book has developed a cult following of its own, and legend has it
Dustin Hoffman based his performance in
Wag The Dog on Evans' reading style on the tape. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide