Robert Stevenson (filmmaker)

This article is about the British director born 1905. For the American director, primarily TV, born 1920, see Robert Stevens (director). For others of the same name, see Robert Stevenson (disambiguation).

Robert Stevenson
Born
Robert Edward Stevenson

(1905-03-31)31 March 1905
Buxton, Derbyshire, England
Died30 April 1986(1986-04-30) (aged 81)
Santa Barbara, California, US
Occupation(s)Director, screenwriter
Years active1928–1976
Spouses
Cecilie L Leslie
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(m. 1929; div. 1934)​
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(m. 1934; div. 1944)​
Frances Holyoke Howard
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(m. 1944, divorced)​
Ursula Henderson
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(m. 1963)​
Children3, including Venetia Stevenson
RelativesEdan Everly (grandson)

Robert Edward Stevenson[1] (31 March 1905 – 30 April 1986) was a British-American screenwriter and film director.

After directing a number of British films, including King Solomon's Mines (1937), he was contracted by David O. Selznick and moved to Hollywood, but was loaned to other studios, directing Jane Eyre (1943). He directed 19 live-action films for The Walt Disney Company in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

A prolific filmmaker with a long, distinguished career, Stevenson is probably best remembered for directing the Julie Andrews musical fantasy Mary Poppins (1964), for which Andrews won the Best Actress Oscar and Stevenson was nominated for Best Director.[2] His other Disney films include the first two Herbie films, The Love Bug (1968) and Herbie Rides Again (1974), as well as Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Three of his films featured English actor David Tomlinson.

  1. ^ Ryall, Tom, "Stevenson, Robert Edward (1905–1986)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, online edition, May 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2018. (subscription required)
  2. ^ John Wakeman, World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890–1945. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, (1987), pp1057-1063.