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1980s Robin Williams hit ‘Popeye’ fueled by cocaine says mogul Barry Diller

May 23, 2025
in News
1980s Robin Williams hit ‘Popeye’ fueled by cocaine says mogul Barry Diller
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Robin Williams, Shelley Duval
There was cocaine on the set of 1980’s hit “Popeye,” says Barry Diller. ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection / Everett Collection

They were pumped up on more than just spinach.

The set of 1980s kids’ hit “Popeye” was knee-deep in cocaine, according to movie mogul Barry Diller.

“You couldn’t escape it,” Diller — who was CEO of its studio, Paramount Pictures, for a decade — told Anderson Cooper this week at the 92Y.

Barry Diller
“You couldn’t escape it,” Diller, who was head of Paramount, said. GC Images

The Robin Williams and Shelly Duvall movie was filmed in Malta, and “film cans would be sent back to LA daily for processing the film.”

“And we found out the film cans were actually being used to ship cocaine back and forth to the set,” he said, “Everyone was stoned.”

Diller says viewers may actually be able to see the effects on screen. “Think of… [vinyl LP] record speeds,” he told the audience, adding that if 33rpm is the standard speed for playing an LP on a record player, “this is a movie that runs at 78 rpm.”

Popeye movie
Diller revealed that it was shipped in film cans. ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

The film’s orchestrator Van Dyke Parks previously told the Telegraph that famed producer Robert Evans was almost caught when his cocaine-packed luggage went missing at the airport during the movie’s shoot.

He also remembered the set being full of hidden drugs.

“I was the hero of the regiment for opening up a walkie-talkie to change the battery and finding a bag of cocaine,” Parks said. “I don’t remember how much there was or to whom I gave it. But I remember that I recoiled, because I knew that it would be a component in the way people behaved, and the difficulties of the production right up to the top.””

Evans, who also did movies “The Godfather” and “Chinatown,” was arrested for unrelated cocaine trafficking while the flick was in post-production.

Robert Evans
Robert Evans was known for cocaine use. Getty Images

It was later wiped from his record, but he said during a 1994 interview, “Bob ‘Cocaine’ Evans is how I’ll be known to my grave”. 

Williams spoke often about his cocaine addiction around the time “Popeye” was made. He later got sober.

Diller, who is promoting his biography “Who Knew.” also talked about some jealousy between his butler and now wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, when they first met.

Diller recalled von Furstenberg visiting him in LA for the first time and and going to the kitchen in the morning while he was still asleep.

Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg
Diller also discussed first meeting his wife Diane von Furstenberg. Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Diller, who has been married to fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg since 2001, opens up in the new book about his relationships with men.

The post 1980s Robin Williams hit ‘Popeye’ fueled by cocaine says mogul Barry Diller appeared first on Page Six.

Tags: barry dillerclassic moviesCocainediane von furstenbergrobert evans
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