Robert Stevens

Veteran director who moved to Hollywood in 1939 on the strength of his success with British films like "The Man Who Changed His Mind" (1936) and "King Solomon's Mines" (1937). Stevenson was responsible for such accomplished, atmospheric delights as "Jane Eyre" (1943) and "To the Ends of the Earth" (1948) but, after directing a spate of unsuccessful films for Howard Hughes at RKO in the late 1940s and early 50s, he worked in TV from 1952 to 1956. Stevenson then joined Walt Disney, where he pioneered the studio's live-action attempts and became one of the most commercially successful directors of the 1950s and 60s, thanks to projects such as "Mary Poppins" (1964). Married from 1934-44 to actress Anna Lee (nee Joan Boniface Winnifrith), who appeared in a number of his films in both England and the USA.