We lost a legend today. Richard M. Sherman, the songwriter of iconic Disney projects like Mary Poppins and “It’s A Small World” has died at the age of 95.
The musician passed away on May 25 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills because of an “age-related illness,” per Variety.
In 1958, Richard Sherman and his brother, Robert, were hired by Disney following their song “Tall Paul” becoming a hit. However, they really hit their stride at the House of Mouse in the ’60s as they wrote uplifting Disney songs for the 1964 classic Mary Poppins and the tune “It’s A Small World,” which was part of New York’s World Fair the same year before turning into one of the Disney Parks’ best theme songs.
Whether you’ve ridden “It’s A Small World” at a Disney park or you grew up singing along to songs like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” Sherman and his brother’s impact on Disney is unquestionable.
Before all of that, the brothers worked for Disney, writing music for the animated Sword in the Stone as well as movies like The Parent Trap, Summer Magic and In Search of the Castaways.
According to the article, the brothers worked personally with Walt Disney until he died in 1966. Following that partnership, they left the studio, but came back a few times to create music for Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Jungle Book, among others.
Outside of Disney, the brothers composed the music for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which they got an Oscar nomination for. They also won two Academy Awards for Mary Poppins – Best Substantially Original Music and Best Original Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee.”
Throughout their careers, they accumulated nine nominations from The Academy, along with four Grammy nominations which is wildly impressive. To top it off, they had 23 gold and platinum albums, and in 2008 they were awarded the National Medal of Arts.
The legacy of their work has lived on too, as both Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang have gotten stage adaptations. Plus, in 2013, the brothers were featured in the film Saving Mr. Banks, where Richard was played by Jason Schwartzman and Robert was portrayed by B.J. Novak.
When you think about Disney, it’s impossible not to think about its music, and Richard M. Sherman was one of the big names behind some of its early hits. Just a few months ago, the songwriter returned to Walt Disney’s office to play the original piano from 60 years ago for Once Upon A Studio, which was a lovely deep-cut reference. Plus, the documentary The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story is available to stream with a Disney+ subscription.
Overall, the legacy of these musical brothers will be felt forever at Disney and throughout film and theme park history.
We here at CinemaBlend send our thoughts and condolences to Richard M. Sherman’s family.
