Years active 1928–1985 Name Robert Stevenson | Role Film writer | |
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Born 31 March 1905 ( 1905-03-31 ) Buxton, Derbyshire, England Occupation Director, screenwriter and actor Died April 30, 1986, Santa Barbara, California, United States Spouse Frances Howard (m. 1944), Anna Lee (m. 1934–1944) Books Global Communication in the Twenty-first Century Children Venetia Stevenson, Caroline Stevenson, Hugh Howard Stevenson Movies Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Love Bug, Jane Eyre, Old Yeller Similar People David Tomlinson, Bill Walsh, Matthew Garber, Karen Dotrice, Dean Jones | ||
Robert Stevenson (31 March 1905 – 30 April 1986) was an English film writer and director. He was educated at Cambridge University where he became the president of both the Liberal Club and the Cambridge Union Society.
After directing a number of British films, including King Solomon's Mines (1937), he was given a contract by David O. Selznick and moved to Hollywood in the 1940s. He ended up directing 19 films for the Walt Disney Company in the 1960s and 1970s. Stevenson is best remembered for directing the Julie Andrews musical Mary Poppins, for which Andrews won the Academy Award for Best Actress and Stevenson was nominated for Best Director. With Disney, he also directed 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.
Stevenson divorced his first wife Cecilie and married English actress Anna Lee in 1934. They lived on London's Bankside for five years, moving to Hollywood in 1939, where he remained for many years. They had two daughters, Venetia and Caroline, before divorcing in March 1944.
He married Frances Holyoke Howard on 8 October 1944; they later divorced. They had one son, Hugh Howard Stevenson. Robert Stevenson's widow, Ursula Henderson, appeared as herself in the documentary Locked in the Tower: The Men behind Jane Eyre in 2007.