Stephen Roberts (director)
American film director (1895–1936)
Stephen Roberts (23 November 1895 – 17 July 1936) was an American film director. He directed more than 100 films from 1923 to 1936. He was born in Summersville, West Virginia.
During World War I Steve Roberts was an aviator. After the war he bought his own airplanes and toured America with a flying circus, playing for county fairs and carnivals. His airborne career ended in Texas when, after he performed tailspins, spirals, and other dangerous maneuvers, his engine failed and the plane crashed 3,000 feet below. "It's a good thing it was only a 3,000-foot drop," quipped Roberts. "If it had been 3,500 I might have been hurt."
Like many established directors of the 1930s, Roberts had broken into motion pictures a decade earlier as a director of silent films. Roberts began as an assistant to director Bryan Foy in a Ken Maynard feature. Roberts was then employed by Educational Pictures, a prolific producer of short comedies, where he remained on the directorial staff from 1924 to 1930.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Stephen Roberts (director)” as american film director (1895–1936). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american film director (1895–1936). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q773242. VIAF identifies the subject as 59347692. The Library of Congress control number is no89001235. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1895, 1936, 1923 and 1924.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Stephen Roberts (director)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Stephen Roberts (director) primary sources, Stephen Roberts (director) archive and Stephen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Stephen Roberts (director)”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Stephen Roberts (director)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.