In Remembrance: Charles Evans

     Charles Evans, the co-founder of the fashion house Evan-Picone who then turned to film production serving as executive producer on the comedy Tootsie, has passed away on June 2, 2007 in New York City, NY. He was 81.

     Born in 1926 in New York City, Evans served in the Army until 1946 when he took a position as a salesman in an aunt’s Manhattan clothing store. In 1949, capitalizing on an idea for women’s sportswear, Evans founded Evan-Picone with Joseph Picone, his father’s tailor who had created the firm’s original samples from Evans’s designs. The company flourished through the 1950s and was eventually bought by Revlon in 1962, after which Evans formed a commercial real estate firm.

     Meanwhile, Evans’s brother Robert had gone on to become a powerful Hollywood player, producing films such as Chinatown and Urban Cowboy and serving as head of Paramount Studios.

     Following in his brother’s footsteps, Evans bought the rights to the screenplay for the cross-dressing comedy Tootsie. The film, released in 1981, starred Dustin Hoffman as a down on his luck actor who dresses as a woman in order to get work. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Jessica Lange.

     Evans also served as a producer on the horror film Monkey Shines (1988) and the infamous 1995 cult film Showgirls.