Robert Stevenson (filmmaker): Difference between revisions

Robert Stevenson
Robert Stevenson
Born	31 March 1905; Buxton, Derbyshire, England
Died	30 April 1986 (aged 81); Santa Barbara, California, US
Occupation(s)	Director, screenwriter and actor
Years active	1928–1985
Spouse(s)	Cecilie L Leslie (1929–1934) (divorced); Anna Lee (1934–1944) (divorced); Frances Holyoke Howard (1944) (divorced); Ursula Henderson (1963–1986) (his death)
Children	Venetia Stevenson, Caroline Stevenson, Hugh Howard Stevenson

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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.^[1] 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.

Career

British Films

Stevenson's debut feature film as director was a Jack Hulbert musical, Happy Ever After (1932), a co-production shot in Germany. He went on to make Falling for You (1933) with Hulbert.

Stevenson received acclaim for Tudor Rose (1936), a film of the Lady Jane Grey story. He did The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936) with Boris Karloff and Anna Lee, then another with Hulbert, Jack of All Trades (1936).

Stevenson directed the action adventure movie King Solomon's Mines (1937) with Lee and Paul Robeson. He did a science fiction film with Lee, Non-Stop New York (1937), then Owd Bob (1938) with Will Fyffe, The Ware Case (1938) with Clive Brook, Young Man's Fancy (1939) with Lee, and Return to Yesterday (1940) with Brook and Lee.

Hollywood Films

Stevenson received an offer to go to Hollywood where he directed Tom Brown's School Days (1940) for RKO. He went to Universal to direct a new version of Back Street (1941) with Charles Boyer then went back to RKO for Joan of Paris (1942) with Michele Morgan, a big hit.

Stevenson was one of several directors on Forever and a Day (1943). He wrote and directed an adaptation of Jane Eyre (1943) for David O. Selznick which was ultimately bought and distributed by Fox.

Stevenson directed Hedy Lamarr in Dishonored Lady (1947) and Dick Powell in To the Ends of the Earth (1948).

RKO Under Howard Hughes

He returned to RKO, now under the control of Howard Hughes, to make I Married a Communist (1949). He followed it with Walk Softly, Stranger (1950) with Joseph Cotten, My Forbidden Past (1951) with Robert Mitchum and Ava Gardner, and The Las Vegas Story (1952) with Jane Russell and Victor Mature.

Walt Disney

Stevenson went to work for the Disney Company. His early credits were Johnny Tremain (1957), a story set in the American Revolution, and Old Yeller (1957), a boy and his dog tale.

Stevenson then directed a film about Ireland, Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), and an adaptation of Kidnapped (1960). He had a huge commercial success with the comedy The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and the adventure film In Search of the Castaways (1962). Son of Flubber (1963) was a popular sequel to Professor and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964), a teen comedy, was an unexpected hit, leading to a sequel, The Monkey's Uncle (1965).

Neither did as well at the box office as Mary Poppins (1964), which was a sensation.

Also popular was the Hayley Mills comedy, That Darn Cat! (1965). Stevenson and Disney focused on comedies: The Gnome-Mobile (1967) with Walter Brennan, Blackbeard's Ghost (1968) with Peter Ustinov and Dean Jones, and The Love Bug (1968) with Jones which was a huge it.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) was an attempt to repeat the success of Mary Poppins. Stevenson directed Herbie Rides Again (1974) with Ken Berry and Helen Hayes, and the adventure story, The Island at the Top of the World (1974). One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975), with Hayes and Ustinov was a comedy. Stevenson's last feature was The Shaggy D.A. (1976) with Dean Jones.

Personal Life

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.

Filmography

Year	Film	Notes
1932	Happy Ever After	Directorial debut for Stevenson. The only German film he directed.
1933	Falling For You	His directorial debut in the United Kingdom
1934	The Camels Are Coming	(uncredited)
1936	Tudor Rose
	The Man Who Changed His Mind
	Jack of All Trades
1937	King Solomon's Mines
1937	Non-Stop New York
1938	Owd Bob
1938	The Ware Case
1939	Young Man's Fancy
1940	Return to Yesterday	Stevenson's last United Kingdom film.
1940	Tom Brown's School Days	Stevenson's USA Directorial debut.
1941	Back Street	Remake of the 1932 Universal Pictures film of the same name, Stevenson's only film for Universal Pictures.
1942	Joan of Paris	Nominated for the Academy Award for original music score, Stevenson's first film for RKO Radio Pictures
1943	Forever and a Day	The only film from RKO with a record breaking 22 directors, writers, and producers. Last film for RKO.
1943	Jane Eyre	His only film he directed for 20th Century Fox
1944	Know Your Ally: Britain	Documentary Short (uncredited), Produced for the United States War Department and the United States Signal Corps.
1946	American Creed	Short
1947	Dishonored Lady	Stevenson's only film for United Artists.
1948	To the Ends of the Earth	Stevenson's only film for Columbia Pictures.
1949	I Married a Communist (aka, The Woman on Pier 13	Stevenson's first film for RKO since 1943
1950	Walk Softly, Stranger	Filming completed in 1948 but not released until 1950.
1951	My Forbidden Past
1952	The Las Vegas Story
	Macao	(uncredited), Stevenson's final film for RKO.
	The Ford Television Theatre	TV series (3 episodes: 1952–1953), Stevenson's Television Directorial debut, sponsored by Ford.
1953	Cavalcade of America	TV series (8 episodes: 1953–1955)
1953	General Electric Theater	TV series (2 episodes: 1953–1956), Sponsored by General Electric.
1955	Atomic Energy as a Force for Good	(short)
	The Star and the Story	TV series (3 episodes: 1955–1956)
	The 20th Century-Fox Hour	TV series (2 episodes: 1955–1956)
	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	TV series (7 episodes: 1955–1959)
	Gunsmoke	TV series (6 episodes)
1957	The Christophers	TV series (1 episode: "Sentence Deferred")
	Johnny Tremain	This marks the return of Robert Stevenson as director in movies since 1952 and his first of in a series of Disney Movies from 1957 to 1976. Based on the award winning novel from 1944 by Esther Forbes
	Old Yeller	One of Stevenson's most successfully directed films which led to a sequel, Savage Sam (1963). Based on the award winning book by Fred Gipson.
	Disneyland	TV series (26 episodes: 1957–1982)
	Zorro	TV series (3 episodes); his final TV series he directed.
1959	Darby O'Gill and the Little People
1960	Kidnapped
1961	The Absent-Minded Professor	Nominated – DGA Award – Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures,Colorized in 1986 for home video release, one of the few Disney black and white films made after 1941. Was remade as a 1988 television series and a 1997 remake, Flubber. Was released in widescreen and was restored to Black and white for the 2003 DVD release, and then released on a two disc DVD set with its sequel film, Son of Flubber, in 2008.
1962	In Search of the Castaways
1963	Son of Flubber	Originally filmed in Black and white, and was one of the last few black and white Disney films made after 1941. However, it was colorised for the 1997 VHS release, but was restored for its 2008 two disc DVD release, along with the original 1961 film, The Absent-Minded Professor.
1964	The Misadventures of Merlin Jones	Followed by the 1965 sequel, The Monkey's Uncle
1964	Mary Poppins	Nominated – Academy Award for Best Director Blue Ribbon Award – Best Foreign Film Nominated – DGA Award – Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
1965	The Monkey's Uncle	Sequel to 1964's The Misadventures of Merlin Jones
1965	That Darn Cat!	Led to a 1997 remake, That Darn Cat
1967	The Gnome-Mobile
1968	Blackbeard's Ghost	Was released in Japan in 1976 and Australia in 1980.
1968	The Love Bug	One of two Love Bug films directed by Stevenson.
1971	Bedknobs and Broomsticks	Sant Jordi Award for Best Children's Film
1974	Herbie Rides Again	The first film to use the name, "Herbie", for the Herbie the Love Bug franchise.
1974	The Island at the Top of the World
1975	One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing
1976	The Shaggy D.A.	Sequel to 1959's The Shaggy Dog. Was Stevenson's final film for Disney, and his final film in general.
1985	The Walt Disney Comedy and Magic Revue	(video short) (archive footage)

References

^ John Wakeman, World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890–1945. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, (1987), pp1057-1063.

External links

Robert Stevenson at IMDb

This article about a British film director is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] John Wakeman, World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890–1945. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, (1987), pp1057-1063.

[1]

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 After directing a number of British films, including ''[[King Solomon's Mines (1937 film)|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 (film)|Mary Poppins]]'', for which Andrews won the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] and Stevenson was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]].<ref>John Wakeman, ''World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890–1945.'' New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, (1987), pp1057-1063.</ref> 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]].
+==Career==
+===British Films===
+Stevenson's debut feature film as director was a [[Jack Hulbert]] musical, ''[[Happy Ever After (1932 film)|Happy Ever After]]'' (1932), a co-production shot in Germany. He went on to make ''[[Falling for You (1933 film)|Falling for You]]'' (1933) with Hulbert.
+Stevenson received acclaim for ''[[Tudor Rose (film)|Tudor Rose]]'' (1936), a film of the [[Lady Jane Grey]] story. He did ''[[The Man Who Changed His Mind]]'' (1936) with [[Boris Karloff]] and Anna Lee, then another with Hulbert, ''[[Jack of All Trades (1936 film)|Jack of All Trades]]'' (1936).
+Stevenson directed the action adventure movie ''[[King Solomon's Mines (1937 film)|King Solomon's Mines]]'' (1937) with Lee and [[Paul Robeson]]. He did a science fiction film with Lee, ''[[Non-Stop New York]]'' (1937), then ''[[Owd Bob (1938 film)|Owd Bob]]'' (1938) with [[Will Fyffe]], ''[[The Ware Case (1938 film)|The Ware Case]]'' (1938) with [[Clive Brook]], ''[[Young Man's Fancy (film)|Young Man's Fancy]]'' (1939) with Lee, and ''[[Return to Yesterday]]'' (1940) with Brook and Lee.
+===Hollywood Films===
+Stevenson received an offer to go to Hollywood where he directed ''[[Tom Brown's School Days (1940 film)|Tom Brown's School Days]]'' (1940) for RKO. He went to Universal to direct a new version of ''[[Back Street (1941 film)|Back Street]]'' (1941) with [[Charles Boyer]] then went back to RKO for ''[[Joan of Paris]]'' (1942) with [[Michele Morgan]], a big hit.
+Stevenson was one of several directors on ''[[Forever and a Day (1943 film)|Forever and a Day]]'' (1943). He wrote and directed an adaptation of ''[[Jane Eyre (1943 film)|Jane Eyre]]'' (1943) for [[David O. Selznick]] which was ultimately bought and distributed by Fox.
+Stevenson directed [[Hedy Lamarr]] in ''[[Dishonored Lady]]'' (1947) and [[Dick Powell]] in ''[[To the Ends of the Earth (film)|To the Ends of the Earth]]'' (1948).
+===RKO Under Howard Hughes===
+He returned to RKO, now under the control of [[Howard Hughes]], to make ''[[I Married a Communist (film)|I Married a Communist]]'' (1949). He followed it with ''[[Walk Softly, Stranger]]'' (1950) with [[Joseph Cotten]], ''[[My Forbidden Past]]'' (1951) with [[Robert Mitchum]] and [[Ava Gardner]], and ''[[The Las Vegas Story (film)|The Las Vegas Story]]'' (1952) with [[Jane Russell]] and [[Victor Mature]].
+===Walt Disney===
+Stevenson went to work for the Disney Company. His early credits were ''[[Johnny Tremain (film)|Johnny Tremain]]'' (1957), a story set in the American Revolution, and ''[[Old Yeller (film)|Old Yeller]]'' (1957), a boy and his dog tale.
+Stevenson then directed a film about Ireland, ''[[Darby O'Gill and the Little People]]'' (1959), and an adaptation of ''[[Kidnapped (1960 film)|Kidnapped]]'' (1960). He had a huge commercial success with the comedy ''[[The Absent-Minded Professor]]'' (1961) and the adventure film ''[[In Search of the Castaways (film)|In Search of the Castaways]]'' (1962). ''[[Son of Flubber]]'' (1963) was a popular sequel to ''Professor'' and ''[[The Misadventures of Merlin Jones]]'' (1964), a teen comedy, was an unexpected hit, leading to a sequel, ''[[The Monkey's Uncle]]'' (1965).
+Neither did as well at the box office as ''[[Mary Poppins (film)|Mary Poppins]]'' (1964), which was a sensation.
+Also popular was the [[Hayley Mills]] comedy, ''[[That Darn Cat!]]'' (1965). Stevenson and Disney focused on comedies: ''[[The Gnome-Mobile]]'' (1967) with [[Walter Brennan]], ''[[Blackbeard's Ghost]]'' (1968) with [[Peter Ustinov]] and Dean Jones, and ''[[The Love Bug]]'' (1968) with Jones which was a huge it.
+''[[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]'' (1971) was an attempt to repeat the success of ''Mary Poppins''. Stevenson directed ''[[Herbie Rides Again]]'' (1974) with [[Ken Berry]] and [[Helen Hayes]], and the adventure story, ''[[The Island at the Top of the World]]'' (1974). ''[[One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing]]'' (1975), with Hayes and Ustinov was a comedy. Stevenson's last feature was ''[[The Shaggy D.A.]]'' (1976) with Dean Jones.
+==Personal Life==
 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 Stevenson|Venetia]] and Caroline, before divorcing in March 1944.

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