Robert Lewis Steadman was born December 6, 1944 in Portland, OR and died November 22, 2010, at the age of 65 in Calabasas, CA.  A trip to Europe with his family when he was a teenager and his interest in theater inspired him.  After beginning his collegiate studies at Linfield College and Portland State University, he tranferred to the University of Southern California's Dept. of Cinema, where he graduated in 1966.  He had been a member of the American Society of Cinematographers since 1992.

In 1992 he won the Technical Achievement Award given by the Society of Camera Operators with a co-inventor who he met while attending USC.

Bob's first professional work was photographing travelogues for a LA television station.  He was then hired as an assistant for a series of educational films, after which he worked briefly as an editor before returning to camerawork.  

An article written by Jon Witmer says that in 1975, director Michael Glyn hired Steadman to shoot the California sequences of The Eagle Within, a special-venue project that celebrated the U.S. Bicentennial. Glyn enthused that Steadman "had a better mix of expertise at action photography, simpatico and a sense of the style we were after than anyone else we met in the West."  Glyn also wrote, "Steadman, who had never been in a hang glider before, simply sat in the tandem seat, his Panavision Arri in hand, and literally walked off the top of Mt. Palomar, shooting as Bob Wills guided his glider 3,500 feet down the valley floor."

A "google search" of him illuminated his career giving him credit for many commercials; 53 movies or TV programs, usually as director of photography.  Included in the list was the TV series, "Providence"; movies, Life in a Day, Taking Liberty, The Blue Lagoon, Switched at Birth and the Man Who Captured Eichmann.

In 2004 Bob retired to enjoy life filled with sailing.  He is survived by his sons; Jonas, Taylor and Spencer.

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