Robert Stevenson (Director)

Robert Stevenson (born March 31, 1905 in Buxton , Derbyshire , England , † April 30, 1986 in Santa Barbara , California ) was a British - American film director , screenwriter and film producer . He had his greatest success in the 1960s as the director of a number of Walt Disney feature films, of which Mary Poppins (1964) is the best known. These films made him the most commercially successful director of his time.

Life

Born in Buxton as the youngest of twelve children of a businessman, Robert Stevenson studied psychology, among other things, at St John's College at Cambridge University . During this time he was also a member of the private debating club The Cambridge Union Society , which he also chaired in 1928. In the final phase of his studies, a research project involving moviegoers inspired him to pursue a career in the film industry.

After starting in 1928 and gaining experience as a screenwriter and co-director in addition to his work as a journalist , he was given the first chance in 1936 to independently direct Tudor Rose , a period film about the life of Lady Jane Gray . It was also his first collaboration with actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke , with whom he made several films. Hardwicke played Allan Quatermain in King Solomon's Mines the following year . Stevenson made one of the best British adventure films of the 1930s. In addition, he also shot thrillers , comedies and love films and was the most important man in the Gaumont-British film company during this time, after Alfred Hitchcock and Victor Saville . So true The man who exchanged his brain ( The Man Who Changed His Mind , 1936) as the best of the three horror movies that Boris Karloff turned in the thirties in the UK.

Even if many of Stevenson's films are long forgotten today, he had such a good reputation at the time that David O. Selznick signed him at the same time as Alfred Hitchcock and brought him to the USA in 1939 . In contrast to Hitchcock, however, Stevenson never made a film for Selznick during the entire ten-year term of his contract, but was only loaned to other studios. So he shot Tom Brown's School Days in 1940 , again with Hardwicke, who had meanwhile also moved to the States. Also on forever on and three days ( Forever and a Day both 1943) were involved. A classic Charlotte Brontë film adaptation was made by Stevenson with The Orphan of Lowood ( Jane Eyre , 1943), despite the very different acting styles of the main actors Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles .

Towards the end of World War II , Frank Capra recruited him to co-produce a number of documentaries for the US Department of War, including a film about the liberation of Rome . After the war, the films Stevenson dealt with became increasingly thinner. In the early 1950s, his career as a film director finally came down to a dead end and he was forced to work for television. During this time he directed around 100 television productions as if on an assembly line and wrote scripts for series such as Rauchende Colts ( Gunsmoke ) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents .

A turning point came when he met Walt Disney , who in 1957 offered him the opportunity to direct Johnny Tremain , a period film about the American Revolution . After this, several episodes of the television series Zorro and the very successful His friend Jello ( Old Yeller , 1957), Stevenson then shot his first big fantasy film for Disney: The Secret of the Haunted Cave ( Darby O'Gill and the Little People , 1959) . However, the technically extremely complicated film did not go down as well with the audience as one had expected. When Robert Stevenson filmed Abducted - The Adventures of David Balfour ( Kidnapped , 1960), the advertising suggested a relationship to the original author Robert Louis Stevenson , which the director denied.

The flying timpani ( The Absent Minded Professor , 1961) proved to be an enormous financial success . The lovable science fiction / fantasy comedy with Fred MacMurray in the title role as the absent- minded inventor of the rubber ball was next to The Guns of Navarone ( The Guns of Navarone , 1961) the most successful film of 1961 on the North American market. A sequel followed promptly with The Pauker Can't Stop It ( Son of Flubber , 1963). Stevenson's greatest film success, however, was the musical film Mary Poppins ( Mary Poppins , 1964) based on the template by PL Travers . With grossing around 40 million US dollars, it was the most successful film of 1965 on the North American market and earned Stevenson his only Oscar nomination for “Best Director”. At this point he was at the height of his career and the most important real film director at Disney Studios. Stevenson was once again at the top of the box office with the VW Beetle Herbie : A great Beetle ( The Love Bug , 1968) was the most successful film of 1969 on the North American market.

His last directorial work was Zotti, das Urviech ( The Shaggy DA , 1976). He then retired. In 1977 - shortly before the dawn of the era of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg - the industry journal Variety called him "the most commercially successful director in the history of films", and as the American Film Magazine published a list of all-time box office hits in 1978, and it included 19 Stevenson's films.

Despite his success, Stevenson was mostly not noticed by the public or by the specialist critics; most of the film books do not list it either. This may be due to the dominance of the name Walt Disney, behind which the artists who worked with and for him often disappeared into obscurity. In fact, Disney had a significant impact on its films. Stevenson himself often pointed out that filmmaking is teamwork. However, his habit of repeating scenes several times and from different camera positions and then selecting the most successful shot was often interpreted as a lack of inspiration. Nevertheless, he was a specialist in fantasy films, which he knew how to handle like few. Whether leprechauns , flying nannies, bouncy balls or a VW Beetle with a soul - the believable fantasy elements in his films were the inspiration for numerous other directors, including Stanley Kubrick - he is supposed to watch Mary Poppins three times in preparation for 2001: A Space Odyssey have -, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson .

Robert Stevenson was married to actress Anna Lee from 1933 until their divorce in 1944 . After that, he married two more times. He is the father of Venetia Stevenson . Stevenson died on April 30, 1986 (according to other sources also on September 4 or November 4) in Santa Barbara.

Filmography (selection)

• 1930: Greek Street - script participation
• 1931: The Calendar - script participation
• 1931: Michael and Mary - script participation
• 1931: Sunshine Susie - script participation
• 1932: The Strangler arrives at midnight ( The Ringer / The Gaunt Stranger ) - script participation
• 1932: Lord Babs - script participation
• 1932: Love on Wheels - script participation
• 1932: Happy Ever After - co-directed
• 1933: The Only Girl - script participation
• 1933: Early to Bed - script participation
• 1933: Falling for You - co-directed
• 1934: Little Friend - co-production
• 1934: The Battle - script participation
• 1936: Tudor Rose - director, script participation
• 1936: The Man Who Changed His Mind - director
• 1936: Jack of All Trades - director
• 1937: King Solomon's Mines - directed
• 1937: Non-Stop New York - directed
• 1937: Paradise for Two - script participation
• 1938: The Ware Case - director, script participation
• 1940: Return to Yesterday - director, script participation
• 1940: Young Man's Fancy - director, story
• 1940: Tom Brown's School Days - director
• 1941: side street ( Backstreet ) - Director
• 1942: Joan of Paris - director
• 1943: For ever and a day (Forever and a Day) - Co-production, co-directed
• 1943: The Orphan of Lowood ( Jane Eyre ) - script participation, director
• 1946: Opium ( American Creed ) - director
• 1947: woman without morals? ( Dishonored Lady ) - Director
• 1948: To the Ends of the Earth - director
• 1949: The Woman on Pier 13 (alternative title I Married a Communist ) - director
• 1950: Gambling of Life ( Walk Softly, Stranger ) - directed
• 1951: My Forbidden Past - director
• 1952: The Las Vegas Story - directed
• 1955: Smoking Colts ( Gunsmoke , TV series) - director
• 1955–1956: seven episodes by Alfred Hitchcock Presents - directed
• 1957: Johnny Tremain - director
• 1957: Zorro (TV series) - directed several episodes
• 1957: His friend Jello ( Old Yeller ) - director
• 1959: The Secret of the Haunted Cave ( Darby O'Gill and the Little People ) - directed
• 1960: The Adventures of David Balfour ( Kidnapped ) - Director, Screenplay
• 1961: The Absent-Minded Professor ( The Absent Minded Professor ) - Director
• 1962: The Adventures of Captain Grant ( In Search of the Castaways ) - directed
• 1962: The Pauker Can't Quit It ( Son of Flubber ) - Director
• 1964: The Misadventures of Merlin Jones - director
• 1964: Mary Poppins ( Mary Poppins ) - director
• 1965: The Monkey's Uncle - directed
• 1965: Alles für die Katz ( That Darn Cat! ) - Director
• 1967: The Adventurous Journey into the Dwarf Land ( The Gnome-Mobile ) - Director
• 1968: Captain Blackbeard's Spuk-Kaschemme ( Blackbeard's Ghost ) - director
• 1968: The Love Bug ( The Love Bug ) - Director
• 1969: A Fat Dog ( My Dog, the Thief , TV) - directed
• 1971: The daring witch in her flying bed ( Bedknobs and Broomsticks ) - director
• 1974: The Island at the Top of the World ( The Iceland at the Top of the World ) - Director
• 1974: Herbie Rides Again ( Herbie Rides Again ) - Director
• 1975: who stole our dinosaur? ( One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing ) - Director
• 1976: Zotti, das Urviech ( The Shaggy DA ) - director

In Who Stole Our Dinosaur? ( One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing , 1975) he also had a cameo .

Awards

• 1965: Oscar nomination for Best Director : Mary Poppins
• 2002: Appointed Disney Legend

literature

• Robert Stevenson. In: John Wakeman (Ed.): World Film Directors. Volume One, 1890-1945. The HW Wilson Company, New York 1987, ISBN 0-8242-0757-2 , pp. 1057-1063.

Web links

• Robert Stevenson in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Robert Stevenson as "Disney Legend" on D23.com (Eng.)
• Short biography of Stevensons at Prisma-Online