Robert Stevenson

Directing

Robert Stevenson

Born 1905-03-31 · Buxton, Derbyshire, England, UK

Robert Stevenson (31 March 1905, Buxton, Derbyshire – 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. He moved to California in the 1940s and ended up directing 19 films for The Walt Disney Company in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, Stevenson is best remembered for directing the Julie Andrews musical Mary Poppins, for which Andrews won the Academy Award for Best Actress and Stevenson received a nomination for Best Director Oscar. Stevenson divorced his first wife Cecilie and married 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 October 8, 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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Stevenson (director), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia​

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Mary Poppins poster
7.6

In turn of the century London, a magical nanny employs music and adventure to help two neglected children become closer to their father.

Mary Poppins

1964

The Love Bug poster
6.6

Down-on-his-luck race car driver Jim Douglas teams up with a little VW Bug that has a mind of its own, not realizing Herbie's worth until a sneaky rival plots to steal him.

The Love Bug

1968

Jane Eyre poster
6.9

After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

Jane Eyre

1943

Jane Eyre poster
6.9

After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

Jane Eyre

1943

Bedknobs and Broomsticks poster
7.0

Three children evacuated from London during World War II are forced to stay with an eccentric spinster. The children's initial fears disappear when they find out she is in fact a trainee witch.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

1971

Herbie Rides Again poster
6.2

The living Volkswagen Beetle helps an old lady protect her home from a corrupt developer.

Herbie Rides Again

1974

Old Yeller poster
6.9

Young Travis Coates is left to take care of the family ranch with his mother and younger brother while his father goes off on a cattle drive in the 1860s. When a yellow mongrel comes for an uninvited stay with the family, Travis reluctantly adopts the dog.

Old Yeller

1957

That Darn Cat! poster
6.6

A young woman suspects foul play when her cat comes home wearing a wristwatch. Convincing the FBI, though, and catching the bad guys is tougher than she imagined.

That Darn Cat!

1965

The Gnome-Mobile poster
6.3

An eccentric millionaire and his grandchildren are embroiled in the plights of some forest gnomes who are searching for the rest of their tribe. While helping them, the millionaire is suspected of being crazy because he's seeing gnomes! He's committed, and the niece and nephew and the gnomes have to find him and free him.

The Gnome-Mobile

1967

Owd Bob poster
5.6

Adam McAdam is an old, dour sheepherder whose life is devoted to his faithful dog, the whiskey bottle and his daughter, Jeannie. And a conflict that arises when the other sheep-men of the district try every means within their power to have his dog, accused of being a sheep-killer, destroyed.

Owd Bob

1938

The Shaggy D.A. poster
5.8

Wilby Daniels, a successful lawyer running for District Attorney, suddenly finds himself being transformed into an English sheepdog. Somehow he has to keep his change a secret and find just what is causing it, all the while eluding the local dog catcher.

The Shaggy D.A.

1976

The Absent-Minded Professor poster
6.5

Bumbling professor Ned Brainard accidentally invents flying rubber, or "Flubber", an incredible material that gains energy every time it strikes a hard surface. It allows for the invention of shoes that can allow jumps of amazing heights and enables a modified Model-T to fly. Unfortunately, no one is interested in the material except for Alonzo Hawk, a corrupt businessman who wants to steal the material for himself.

The Absent-Minded Professor

1961

Darby O'Gill and the Little People poster
6.7

A wily old codger matches wits with the King of the Leprechauns and helps play matchmaker for his daughter and the strapping lad who has replaced him as caretaker.

Darby O'Gill and the Little People

1959

Blackbeard's Ghost poster
6.7

The eponymous wraith returns to Earth to aid his descendant, elderly Emily Stowecroft. The villains want to kick Emily and her friends out of their group home so that they can build a crooked casino. Good guy Steve Walker gets caught in the middle of the squabble after evoking Blackbeard's ghost.

Blackbeard's Ghost

1968

Son of Flubber poster
6.1

Beleaguered professor Ned Brainard has already run into a pile of misfortunes with his discovery of the super-elastic substance "Flubber." Now he hopes to have better luck with a gravity-busting derivative he's dubbed "Flubbergas." Ned's experiments, constantly hampered by government obstruction, earn the consternation of his wife, Betsy. But a game-winning modification to a football uniform may help Ned make the case for his fantastic new invention.

Son of Flubber

1963

The Island at the Top of the World poster
6.5

A Victorian gentleman hopes to find his long-lost son, who vanished while searching for a mysterious Viking community in a volcanic valley somewhere in uncharted Arctic regions. The gentleman puts together an expedition team to go on the search, but when they reach their destination they must escape from some Viking descendants who will kill to keep their existence a secret.

The Island at the Top of the World

1974

Back Street poster
7.3

In turn-of-the-century Cincinnati, vibrant shop girl Ray Smith falls in love with banker Walter Saxel, who is engaged to a socially prominent woman. Inadvertently prevented from running away with Walter, Ray remains single but reunites with him five years later. Despite Walter being married and having a son, Ray becomes his mistress, and over the years suffers social ostracism and long stretches of solitude while waiting for their brief interludes together.

Back Street

1941

One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing poster
5.8

Escaping from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious "Lotus X", Lord Southmere, a Queen's Messenger, is chased by a group of Chinese spies.

One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing

1975

Johnny Tremain poster
6.1

When an injury bars him from pursuing his trade, Revolutionary War-era silversmith's apprentice Johnny Tremain finds a new life in the ranks of the Sons of Liberty army, taking part in the Boston Tea Party and Paul Revere's legendary ride.

Johnny Tremain

1957

Kidnapped poster
6.5

Kidnapped and cheated out of his inheritance, young David Balfour falls in with a Jacobite adventurer, Alan Breck Stewart. Falsely accused of murder, they must flee across the Highlands, evading the redcoats.

Kidnapped

1960

Kidnapped poster
6.5

Kidnapped and cheated out of his inheritance, young David Balfour falls in with a Jacobite adventurer, Alan Breck Stewart. Falsely accused of murder, they must flee across the Highlands, evading the redcoats.

Kidnapped

1960

In Search of the Castaways poster
6.5

Two teenagers, Mary (Hayley Mills) and Robert (Keith Hamshere) are lead by Professor Paganel (Maurice Chevalier) on a search expedition for the children's shipwrecked sea captain father. This Disney film was based upon Jules Verne's 1868 adventure novel Captain Grant's Children.

In Search of the Castaways

1962

The Monkey's Uncle poster
5.9

College whiz-kid Merlin Jones concocts a method for teaching advanced information to a chimpanzee, then creates a flying machine of his own design, ultimately raising havoc on the campus.

The Monkey's Uncle

1965

Forever and a Day poster
7.5

In World War II, American Gates Trimble Pomfret is in London during the Blitz to sell the ancestral family house. The current tenant, Leslie Trimble, tries to dissuade him from selling by telling him the 140-year history of the place and the connections between the Trimble and Pomfret families.

Forever and a Day

1943