The Shades, The Dame and Bob Evans

Any company that names a pair of $6500 sunglasses " Diamond Harlot" is not easily scared off, as the Oliver Peoples brand proved when they went ahead with a fashion shoot this past August promoting the signature Bob Evans sunglasses even as rumors circulated that he had died. "I'm not dead," he said perhaps a bit redundantly to Liz Smith at the time, "I have to laugh. I've never been more alive."

Part of the output from Evans' hook-up with the designer eye wear firm (who were bought by Oakley, Inc. for $53.1 million, not long before Oakley in turn joined with Luxottica in a $2.1 billion merger) is a short film that's been making the web rounds for the past week, called Mind Games. A brief, atmospheric black and white mood-setter (let's face it, its job is to sell some of the $365 Evans-signature specs designed for the eyeglass company's twentieth anniversary), the clip features a statuesque--well, mannequin-esque--blonde, who shoots go-thither looks and turns into a raging, memoir-typing harridan on the order, one guesses, of some of Evans' seven ex-wives. (She's played by Kate Nauta, model-actress- singer-whatever from Transporter 2.)

The sometime Paramount head of production (and Chinatown producer) will be 78 in June and has survived three strokes, the aforementioned seven spouses (averaging perhaps 19 months each) and the mentoring of Brett Ratner--who might have made a good cabana boy for Mind Games, perhaps in the languorous shots around chez Evans in Bel Air. Still a spot for talent and execs to play tennis and see screenings amidst the kitschy decor, Evans' crib is probably having its upkeep paid by such endorsements as this glasses spot.

Popular with the likes of Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, Elton John and, and shades icon (and great Evans pal) Jack Nicholson, the Peoples brand was founded in 1987 by Larry and Warren Leight (hitting first with the 505, worn by Sting, Al Pacino and in American Psycho, Christian Bale.) The brand has kept its chic by staying both pricey and under the radar--insofar as it can while still being in business, partly for charity's sake, with famous four-eyes types like Elton John.)

The director, Sinisha Niscvic (we can't pronounce it either) is a big-shot fashion photog whose website features his stylish promo clips and a longer audition for feature directing called Reflections and starring Francesco Quinn, Anthony's son and the somewhat forlorn sounding aspirant to renewed stardom described in a recent Los Angeles Times profile.

The ad closes with a trademark Evans snigger and the cautionary line, "You try to figure a dame out."

We're going to leave that to Bob. He's got the know-how.

(Henry Kissinger, Bob Evans and third wife Ali McGraw arrive at the New York premiere of his production "The Godfather," March, 1972; photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)

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