Today in Disney History: Robert Sherman Passes Away in England

Robert Sherman passed away on this day in 2012 in London, England due to an age related illness. He was 86 years old. He was born on December 19, 1925 in New York City, New York. At the age of 17, Sherman joined the Army with the permission of his parents. He was awarded the Purple Heart medal after being shot in the knee on April 12, 1945. Due to the injury he walked with a cane for his entire life. A challenge from Al Sherman, led to Robert and his brother Richard to team up to write songs. In 1958, Robert and his brother Richard had their first Top 10 hit with "Tall Paul", sung by Annette Funicello. That success put the brothers on Walt Disney's radar and soon after they were hired to write songs for Walt Disney Productions.

Some of their early work included "It's a Small World (After All)" and "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" for the 1964 New York World's Fair's Pepsi Presents Walt Disney's it's a small world attraction and the Carousel of Progress attraction respectively. For the next couple decades Robert and his brother wrote numerous classics "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "Chim Chim Cher-ee," "A Spoonful Of Suger," "I Wan'na Be Like You," "Let's Get Together," "The Age of Not Believing" plus so many, many more! They won the Academy Award in the category of Best Original Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and the Academy Award in the category of "Best Substantially Original Score" for Mary Poppins. Over the years the brothers contributed to many Disney attractions besides it's a small world and Carousel of Progress, including Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, Adventure Thru Inner Space, Innoventions, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Meet the World, Journey into Imagination and Fantasmic!

From left to right: Robert Sherman, Walt Disney and Richard Sherman (photo property of The Walt Disney Company)

Robert was named a Disney Legend in 1990 along with his brother, in the Music category. Robert and his brother Richard were the subject of a 2009 documentary, "the boys: the sherman brothers' story," which is on Disney+. In March 2010, the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California honored the Sherman brothers with their very own window on Main Street, U.S.A., which states: "Two Brothers Tunemakers - Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman: We'll Write Your Tunes For a Song."

Check out the trailer for "the boys: the sherman brothers' story" below: