Mary Shepard Mary Shepard Mary Eleanor Jessie Knox née Shepard (25 December 1909 – 4 September 2000) was an English illustrator of children's books. She is best known for the "Mary Poppins" stories written by P. L. Travers (1934 to 1988): "Mary Shepard: Putting Mary Poppins in the picture", "The Times" of London titled an obituary article. She used her married name Mary Knox outside the publishing industry. She was the daughter of E. H. Shepard, a famous illustrator of children's literature including "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A. A. Milne in the 1920s and a 1931 edition of "The Wind in the Willows" by
Mary Poppins to various media. The character was first brought to life in an early television play telecast live in 1949 by CBS television, as part of their anthology series "Studio One". She was played by character actress Mary Wickes. E.G. Marshall portrayed Mr. Banks and future "Lassie" child star Tommy Rettig played Michael. David Opatoshu played Bert, who was a Match Man (a seller of matches) in this version. "Mary Poppins" was made into a film based on the first four books in the series by Walt Disney Productions in 1964. According to the 40th anniversary DVD release of the film