The Kid Is Back in the Picture: It Books to Publish New Robert Evans Memoir, and Relaunch the Classic Original, in Multimedia Editions

(New York, NY - January 24, 2013) – It Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced today its plans to publish, in the summer of 2013, a new memoir by the legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans, and to republish his unforgettable autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture. The books will be published both in print and in an innovative digital multimedia edition—the first of its kind—including rare and previously unreleased visual and audio material. The deal was negotiated by Calvert Morgan, publisher of It Books, and Helen Breitwieser of Cornerstone Literary Agency.

Told in the same irresistible style that made The Kid one of the most acclaimed memoirs of our time, the new memoir, titled The Fat Lady Sang, chronicles Evans’s triumphant recovery from a devastating series of strokes, with the aid of neurologists, physical therapists and old friends like Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Sumner Redstone, and Beverly D’Angelo. Along the way, he shares new stories from throughout his career, with cameos by everyone from Jimmy Cagney, Tyrone Power, Darryl Zanuck, Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn, and Grace Kelly to President Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Ali MacGraw, John Wayne, Alain Delon, Henry Kissinger President Reagan, and Pope John Paul II, to Dustin Hoffman, Roman Polanski, Helmut Newton, P. Diddy, Wes Craven, Slash, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, and more. First excerpted in Vanity Fair, this new memoir will be published in full by It Books in August 2013, in trade paperback, enhanced ebook, and digital audio form.

As a lead-in to that publication, It Books is also developing an innovative suite of new editions of The Kid Stays in the Picture, making it available again for the first time in years—and on multiple new platforms. The original book will be published in a dazzling new trade paperback edition, newly designed inside and out, with a new foreword by Evans himself. The Grammy-nominated audio edition of the book, read by the author, will be made available for the first time in a downloadable digital audio edition. And, for the first time, It Books will make The Kid Stays in the Picture available in electronic form—in an enhanced edition featuring clips from the audio edition, the award-winning documentary 2002 film adaptation, and other film clips from throughout Evans’s tumultuous career. The new editions of The Kid Stays in the Picture will be published in June 2013.

“Chinatown, The Godfather, Rosemary’s Baby—Robert Evans produced some of the greatest films in history, but his greatest production is his life,” said Cal Morgan of It Books. “We’re honored to be Bob’s partners in helping him tell the story to a whole new generation of readers.”

“What you are about to read, hear or see ain’t necessarily poetic,” said Evans. “But its candor, as harsh as it may seem, unequivocally asserts that reality be far more gut-wrenching than fiction.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Evans is the former chief of Paramount Studios, where he produced some of the greatest films ever made, including The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby, and Marathon Man. In the 1960s, he rescued Paramount Pictures from near-bankruptcy with a string of box office hits that started with Love Story. His memoir, The Kid Stays in the Picture, was an international bestseller. The audiobook, read by the author, was nominated for a Grammy Award. The documentary based on the book, produced by Graydon Carter, was nominated for a Critics Choice Award and won several Best Documentary awards. A recipient of the David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award, Evans lives in Beverly Hills, CA.

ABOUT IT BOOKS
It Books is the pop culture imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Founded in 2009, the imprint has published nearly thirty New York Times bestsellers, including the #1 bestsellers Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern and Red by Sammy Hagar. It Books authors include Molly Ringwald, Russell Brand, Alan Cumming, Neil Strauss, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Wyclef Jean, Kelly Oxford, Aisha Tyler, Lauren Redniss, Rob Sheffield, Sherri Shepherd, Ann and Nancy Wilson, and more. The Hollywood Reporter recently called the imprint “a major player in pop culture and entertainment publishing.”