Paramount Boss Robert Evans’ Estate Auction Fetches Hundreds of Thousands

Robert Evans’ estate auction over the weekend hauled in several hundred of thousands of dollars, including his Helmut Newton photograph collection which sold for $486,972, according to Julien’s Auctions.

Evans died Oct. 26, 2019. The iconic producer and studio chief was credited with resurrecting Paramount Pictures in the 1960s with a slew of classics, including Rosemary’s Baby, The Godfather and Chinatown. 

His Chinatown Golden Globe nabbed $83,200, more than 27 times its original estimate of $3,000, according to the auction house. In the same realm, his third draft Chinatown script — signed with a note by the Academy Award-winning screenwriter Robert Towne — sold for $40,625, well over its original estimate of $8,000, Julien’s noted.

Evans’ leather-bound early annotated draft script of The Godfather — which included notes on casting the role of Tom Hagen, along with changed and deleted scenes — sold for $32,000, more than 10 times its original estimate of $3,000. Also sold was his “second draft” script from 1974’s The Godfather: Part II, which fetched $10,240, according to Julien’s.

Also in the Godfather realm: A set of two telegrams containing a heated exchange between director Francis Ford Coppola and Evans about the film sold for $38,400. The original estimate was $400, according to the auction house.

Also going for well over its estimation, Evans’ brass name lettering that hung on his Paramount Studios’ office door sold for an astounding $22,400 — 73 times its original estimate of $300.

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