He’s Still in the Picture

Robert Evans has always done business in bed.

In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, when he was chief of Paramount Pictures, it was there -- under his 18th century velvet-paneled headboard -- that he closed the deals for such classic films as “The Godfather.” When he pursued the actress he would later marry, Ali MacGraw, to star in the tragic romance “Love Story,” she told him yes while lounging atop his famous mink bedspread.

“The deal was consummated in this very bed,” the irrepressible, baritone-voiced producer has been known to tell visitors to his Beverly Hills mansion, where a butler knows to whisk Evans’ guests past the living room and directly to his bedroom.

For years, Hollywood’s elite has come to Evans’ intimate master suite to seek his counsel. With today’s premiere of “In Bed With Robert Evans,” a two-hour weekly talk show on Sirius Satellite Radio, Evans is inviting the world to do the same.

The pillow talk begins at 3 p.m. PST with a topic that will surprise many: the “brilliance” of Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner.

“Under Eisner’s ingenious, all-American facade breeds the single most competitive, cunning, cantankerous, calculating, creative visionary that this hybrid industry has possibly ever dealt with,” Evans says during a lengthy prerecorded rant in which he fiercely defends Eisner against critics who say he has mismanaged the entertainment giant he has led for 20 years.

Evans’ new show is just the latest attempt by Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. to unseat its top-ranked satellite radio rival, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. Seeking to deliver on its promise to Wall Street to double its 1.24-million-subscriber base by the end of the year, the company has lately been corralling an eclectic stable of on-air personalities, including shock jock Howard Stern, rapper Eminem, skateboarder Tony Hawk and Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

In the 74-year-old Evans, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin and his team have tapped one of Hollywood’s most colorful and controversial bad boys. They hope to capitalize on the cult following that Evans already enjoys.

“He has a unique voice and unique perspective,” said Scott Greenstein, Sirius’ entertainment and sports president. “There is clearly an audience interested in what Bob has to say.”

Evans’ no-holds-barred delivery and stream-of-consciousness style won him a new generation of fans in 1997, when he turned his hilarious memoir “The Kid Stays in the Picture” into a self-narrated book on tape. The cassettes were must-have items in Hollywood, particularly among young up-and-comers. Later, the memoir inspired a 2002 documentary that chronicled his meteoric rise and precipitous fall.

In his 10 years at Paramount, and later as a producer, Evans made more than 300 movies, among them “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown,” “Marathon Man” and “Urban Cowboy.” Since then, he has weathered a cocaine possession conviction, the murder of a business partner, persistent money troubles and, seven years ago, a series of strokes that nearly killed him.

Through it all, the indefatigable Evans has made a cottage industry out of his risen-from-the-ashes narrative. In 2003, he re-created himself as a cartoon character, Kid Notorious, for a series on Comedy Central. Currently, he is planning a one-man Broadway show, which he promises will be “inspirational, funny and scary.”

The radio show, meanwhile, will be something all its own, said Evans, looking dapper in his trademark black leather bolo tie and custom-made tinted glasses, in an interview with The Times. Evans said his show would provide a platform not only to discuss his favorite subjects -- Hollywood and women -- but also to riff on matters of broader import: the scourge of racism, for example.

Evans leaves open the possibility that he will interview guests such as his close friend Jack Nicholson. But first, he is using his pulpit to defend his friend Eisner, who earned Evans’ lasting gratitude by having Hyperion, the Disney-owned book division, publish “The Kid Stays in the Picture” more than a decade ago.

In today’s premiere, Evans takes aim at analysts who have scorched Eisner, calling them “manipulators of half-truths.” He saves his sharpest attack for dissident shareholder and former Disney director Roy E. Disney, whom he calls “witless” and accuses of orchestrating an unfair campaign to oust Eisner.

“I would be remiss not to unravel the media sorcery and spin that, with purpose, concealed facts and tarnished the name of the man who revitalized a white elephant into the Hope diamond,” Evans says of Eisner, whom he affectionately refers to as “Howdy Doody.”

Recalling meeting Eisner nearly 30 years ago, Evans says he was struck by the young executive’s child-like enthusiasm.

“I remember thinking, ‘This young kid is head of Paramount? He looks more like an assistant high school basketball coach,’ ” he recounts of Eisner, who joined the studio shortly after Evans became a producer. “Is this Howdy Doody putting me on?”

Whether Evans’ famously seductive powers will draw new subscribers to Sirius’ more than 120 channels of entertainment, sports, talk, music, traffic and weather remains to be seen. For his part, Evans hopes simply to hone his legacy.

“Maybe I’ll make a thumbprint,” he told The Times, paraphrasing the late playwright Arthur Miller.

After today, Evans’ latest stab at immortality will air regularly on Saturdays starting March 5. Every week, he said, he expects to begin just as he does in his premiere show, with an invitation to join him on the mink.

“For the next two hours, we’re going to be in bed together,” Evans will whisper. “I’m not here to get into your pants. I’m here to get into your head.”