Business career
After leaving the Army, Evans found work in an aunt's clothing store in New York City as a salesman. In 1949, Evans conceived of adding a fly to women's skirts. He approached Joseph Picone, a 31-year-old tailor and immigrant from Sicily who made clothes for Archie Evans, and asked him to manufacture a sample. With seed money from Evans' father, Evans and Picone formed a company that same year named Evan-Picone to make and sell their product. (To make the company name easier to pronounce, the "s" was dropped from Evans.) Picone set up an assembly line to manufacture the skirts in a storefront located at Fifth Avenue and East 46th Street. The company was the first to use darts in the pockets of women's clothing, to inhibit rips and tears. The skirts were a sudden success, and the company quickly expanded into high-end, hand-stitched women's slacks as well. Evans hired his mother, Florence, to be the chief sales manager. He also hired his brother Robert as a salesman. Charles Evans became one of the first celebrity fashion designers. Within two years, Evans, his brother, and Picone were millionaires. In 1962, Revlon purchased Evan-Picone for $12 million in cash.
After the sale of his clothing firm, Evans spent several years looking for something to do. He remained under contract with Revlon until 1966. At one point, Evans became interested in designer kitchen appliances, like can openers. But real estate proved more attractive. Evans' sister, Alice, had married the architect Michael Shure. In 1966, Evans and Shure formed Evans Partnership, a real estate investment and development company. The firm purchased its first site (in Fairfield, New Jersey) six months later. The first office building erected by Evans Partnership was a 55,000 square feet (5,100 m2) building for Becton Dickinson, the medical equipment company. The United States Life Insurance Company invested in the firm in 1974, becoming a limited partner. Over the next several decades, Evans Partnership erected speculative office buildings and constructed headquarters for AT&T, the Bell System, Johnson & Johnson, the Singer Corporation aerospace division, and other corporations. He and Shure also financed the construction of 1099 14th Street NW in Washington, D.C.—which, at the time it was built, had the tallest tower in the city. William Webber, a financial investment consultant who worked for the firm, said that Evans' status as a fashion magnate and brother to a movie studio executive lent an air of celebrity to the firm that often convinced banks to lend Evans Partnership money to construct more speculative structures. At the time of Evans' death, Evans Partnership had constructed more than 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m2) of office space. In 1988, Evans retired from active participation in Evans Partnership, creating a holding company to manage his real estate investments.
With Robert Evans' success as a film producer and motion picture studio executive, Charles Evans decided to get into movie-making as well. He told the Los Angeles Times in 1995 that he got into producing "because I enjoy movies very much. I have the time to do it. And I believe if done wisely, it can be a profitable business." His first foray into film production was a massive success. Playwright Don McGuire had written a play in the early 1970s about an unemployed male actor who cross-dresses in order to get jobs. Titled Would I Lie to You?, the play was shopped around Hollywood for several years until it came to the attention of comedian and actor Buddy Hackett in 1978. Hackett, interested in playing the role of the talent agent, showed the script to Evans. Evans purchased an option on the play. (Delays in the film's production forced Evans to renew the option once or twice.) During 1979, Evans co-wrote a screenplay based on the film with director Dick Richards and screenwriter Bob Kaufman. A few months into the writing process, Richards showed it to actor Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman and Richards were partners in a company which bought and developed properties for development into films. Hoffman wanted complete creative control, and Evans agreed to remove himself from screenwriting tasks. Instead, Evans became a producer on the film, which was renamed Tootsie.
Evans' next projects did not fare so well. In 1986, Evans met with horror film director George A. Romero. Evans invested $450,000 in the film, Monkey Shines, and received $500,000 as a producer's fee. Evans later claimed to have been "involved in every aspect of production". He also said that the film hadn't made him any money in the 10 years since its release. In 1992, Evans met with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who pitched an idea about Las Vegas showgirls. Director Paul Verhoeven, also present during the pitch, wanted to direct the film. Evans paid Eszterhas $2 million in cash to write the screenplay. Carolco Pictures purchased the screenplay from Evans for $2 million and gave him another $1 million for producing the motion picture. The film, Showgirls, was both a box office and critical disaster.
Robert Evans published his memoir, The Kid Stays in the Picture, in 1994. Charles Evans appears in the film and receives "thank you" credits at the end.
Charles Evans was also interested in sailing. His yacht, the 105-foot (32 m) long Ondine VIII (built in 1988), was, according to the Bermuda Sun newspaper, "considered at the time one of the world's most elegant sailing yachts".
