Until Walt’s death, Robert (Bob) Stevenson was the ultimate live-action Disney director. During the 1960s, the unpretentious craftsman directed nearly all of Disney’s successful films, including the Academy Award-winning Mary Poppins in 1964.
Born on March 31, 1905, in Buxton, England, Stevenson attended Shrewsbury School, St. John’s College and Cambridge. He had the rare distinction of not seeing a motion picture until he was 22 years of age, but when he finally saw one—a Joan Crawford movie—in the course of a research project, he decided instantly to carve a career in the film industry. […]