Robert Evans at 93: Writing, Oz, Music and What Comes Next
Gary WhittakerCreator Spotlight · Updated August 2026
Robert Evans at 93: Writing, Oz, Music and What Comes Next
He turns 94 in December. He is still writing new material, revising old ideas, experimenting with AI music, and finding new ways to carry a lifetime of stories forward.
Some lives are easy to summarize. Robert Evans is not one of them.
His story crosses wartime Britain, British Army service, gold mines in South Africa, decades of conventional work, a film-and-television chapter that began at 78, and a writing life shaped by Oz, children’s stories, scripts and ideas that continue to evolve.
What makes this spotlight worth revisiting is not simply that Robert is still active at 93. It is that he is still willing to begin again. AI has not replaced the creative identity that came before it. It has become another medium through which he can test, revise and share ideas he has carried for years.
“You never know what you can do if you don’t try.”
A Life Across Eras
The Reset Most People Never Make
At 78, Robert entered film and television. That late start turned into real screen experience rather than a symbolic bucket-list moment.
He has described working as a stand-in and body double for Ernest Borgnine, appearing around Arnold Palmer in an Xlibris commercial, working on Jerry Lewis’s final film Max Rose, and appearing in projects connected with Jennifer Grey, Rhea Seehorn and Camila Cabello. His IMDb record remains a useful companion to the stories he has shared directly.
The pattern is more important than any individual credit: when a new door opened late in life, Robert walked through it.
How Writing Started
Writing came into Robert’s life through family, not through a carefully planned career.
When his oldest son was around 11 and became fascinated by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he asked Robert to write an Oz story of his own. Robert had never written before. He began getting up about half an hour earlier and writing before work.
A year later, he had roughly 400 pages. That practice grew into a creative thread that has continued for decades.
The Oz Thread Is Still Growing
Robert’s Oz-related work includes Dorothy’s Mystical Adventures in Oz, The Wickedest Meanest Witch of Oz, Abducted to Oz, The Forest Monster of Oz, and Dorothy’s Friends from Oz. His non-Oz work includes the story previously known as The Magic Sneakers.
More important for this update: Robert is not simply maintaining an old catalogue. In August 2026 he sent fresh material for a possible new beginning that follows Dorothy Gale after her return from Oz. The work is still moving.
He has also been candid about how he historically wrote: often sitting down without a detailed plan and discovering the story as he went. In our recent work together, he has been exploring a more structured outlining process while still protecting that sense of discovery.
That combination—an intuitive creator willing to try new structure at 93—is part of what makes this chapter interesting.
Books, Picture Books and Screen Possibilities
Robert’s work has moved through multiple forms: novels and stories, picture books, scripts, public-domain archives and screen-development conversations.
An earlier option connected to his Oz writing expired after a director was not secured. In July 2026, Robert reported renewed exploratory interest through a different producer who was discussing another possible option and financing connections.
That should be understood exactly as it is: development interest, not a claim that a film is financed or in production. But it is another example of work created years ago continuing to find new possible routes forward.
Explore Robert Evans’ Writing
Published Titles
Project Gutenberg
August 2026 Update
From Writing to AI Music: 72 Songs and Counting
Robert’s recent music experiments are not a one-off novelty. In correspondence, he shared a collection he described as his first 72 songs, created between March 2 and August 15, 2025.
What is more interesting than the number is the way he has been learning. He has repeatedly sent alternate versions while working on clearer verses, choruses, bridges and overall song structure. At 93, he is still treating creativity as something that can be practiced rather than something already finished.
That process has included sentimental songs, novelty ideas and more philosophical material. He has also tested whether some of the work might travel beyond private experimentation by submitting selected songs through a music-industry submission service. That does not imply a deal or endorsement; it shows that he is willing to put the work into the world and see what happens.
Featured Song: “Are You Afraid of Dying”
Robert sent this song in August 2026 as an expression of his personal philosophy about death, consciousness and what may come after physical life. Those ideas connect directly to a near-death experience he has discussed and to spiritual themes he has been writing about separately.
Important context: the song presents Robert’s personal beliefs and interpretation. This spotlight does not present those spiritual claims as established fact.
Listen to “Are You Afraid of Dying”Another Example: “I Can’t Forget You”
This earlier example helps show the structural learning process Robert has been working through—moving from an idea toward clearer verses, chorus and bridge.
Listen to “I Can’t Forget You” →The Deeper Belief Underneath It
Robert’s outlook on purpose is tied to something spiritual and deeply personal. He has described a near-death experience from more than 60 years ago that shaped his belief that consciousness continues beyond the body.
Whether a reader shares that belief or not, it clearly informs the way Robert writes and the way he thinks about aging, purpose and the end of physical life. “Are You Afraid of Dying” is therefore not an isolated AI-song experiment. It is a new format for an idea he has been wrestling with for decades.
The technology is new. The underlying voice is not.
On Longevity, Purpose and the Danger of Feeling Finished
Robert has spoken about what happens when retirement makes people feel that they are no longer useful. His own answer has not been endless productivity for its own sake. It has been continued curiosity.
He has painted. He entered screen work at 78. He kept writing. Now he is experimenting with AI-assisted music and more structured creative development.
The lesson is not that everyone should become a writer, actor or songwriter in later life. It is that age does not automatically settle the question of what a person is still capable of becoming.
Robert Evans is not interesting because he has lived a long time. He is interesting because he has stayed willing to begin again.
What Happens Next
Robert turns 94 in December 2026. This spotlight will remain a living profile rather than a finished retrospective.
The immediate story is simple: he is still writing new Oz material, still refining how he structures stories and songs, still exploring how AI can help him express ideas without replacing his authorship, and still open to collaboration and development opportunities when they make sense.
For creators of any age, that may be the most useful part of his story. A tool can change. A format can change. A career can change. The willingness to keep creating is the part that has to survive.
Why This Story Matters for Creators Today
Robert did not wait for perfect timing or ideal conditions. He started, restarted, adapted and kept building across decades, industries and formats.
That does not mean every experiment works. It means experimentation remains available.
