Robert Sherman, one half of the prolific pair of song writing brothers who created the now classic songs for Disney’s Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, died peacefully in London this Monday. He was 86.
Along with his brother, Richard, Sherman has hundreds of songwriting credits, two Academy Awards for Mary Poppins, a Grammy, 23 gold and platinum albums, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a National Medal of Arts awarded by George Bush in 2008.
But Robert will likely be best remembered for composing one of the most played and most instantly recognizable songs in the word, the theme song to Disney’s It’s a Small World theme park ride, which plays continuously, in a multilingual loop every few minutes at each of the five Disney theme parks, to the delight of children and mild irritation of generations of theme park employees.
“We’ve driven teenagers crazy in every language,” joked Sherman. Now that’s a legacy we all aspire to.
Video produced by Chris Wade.
