Don Sharp

Donald Herman Sharp (19 April 192114 December 2011) was an Australian film director.

His best known films were made for Hammer in the 1960s, and included Kiss of the Vampire (1963) and Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966). In 1965 he directed The Face of Fu Manchu, based on the character created by Sax Rohmer, and starring Christopher Lee. Sharp also directed the sequel The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966). In the 1980s he was also responsible for several hugely popular miniseries adapted from the novels of Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Early career

Early life

Sharp was born in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1921, according to official military records and his own account (some sources still give 1922 as his year of birth). He was the second of four children.

He attended St Virgil's College and began appearing regularly in theatre productions at the Playhouse Theatre in Hobart, where he trained under a young Stanley Burbury. He later said this was prompted "by a desire not to study to become an accountant, which is what my parents wanted for me." Among the plays Sharp appeared in were You Can't Take It With You and Our Town. He also directed a production of Stage Door. He studied accountancy in the evenings but this was interrupted by war service. Following this he appeared in a theatre revue, Khaki Kapers, notably in a sketch which figured a flag flown over the air force station in Singapore which Sharp had brought back with him.

Sharp was discharged from the air force on 17 March 1944 at the rank of corporal.

Sharp also toured Japan performing for the occupying troops there. From Japan he went to London in 1948. "I could have gone on with a theatrical

career in Australia," says Sharp, "but what I really wanted was movies. So I went to England."

Sharp also got a small role in a British radio adaptation of Robbery Under Arms (1950).

Sharp said "Shortly after, a number of influential film people made contact with me, but none of them offered me a job as an actor — they all asked if I would write for them!" Sharp was unable to cash in on Ha'penny Breeze as he came down with a recurrence of tuberculosis and spent nearly two years in hospital, during which he had six ribs and one lung removed.

Group 3

When Sharp recovered he got some acting roles in such films as The Planter's Wife (1952), Appointment in London (1953), The Cruel Sea (1953) and You Know What Sailors Are (1954). Several of these films were directed by Ken Annakin who Sharp says was particularly helpful giving him jobs when needed. Sharp sold them an original script called Child's Play (made 1952, released 1954). Group Three liked Sharp's work and assigned him to work on the script for Background; he was also given the job as assistant to the producer which he later called "the most wonderful education".

Group Three bought a story of Sharp's, originally called The Norfolk Story. He turned this into a novel called Conflict of Wings (1954), the title under which it was filmed; Sharp also collaborated on the screenplay with John Pudney, and did some second unit directing.

Sharp and Pudney then wrote The Blue Peter (1955) for Group Three. Once again, Sharp also directed second unit, and he began to develop ambitions to direct. Sharp was offered a job at Ealing Studios as a production assistant but decided to turn it down.

Independent Artists

After an unsuccessful attempt to get up finance for a film with Lonnie Donegan Sharp made two films for Independent Artists. The first was a low-budget thriller, The Professionals (1960), which screened on US TV as part of the Kraft Mystery Theatre. Sharp directed Two Guys Abroad (1962) with George Raft, which was intended as a pilot for a TV series or as a B movie, but ended up not being released at all.

Kiss of the Vampire was shot in 1962. After making it, Sharp went back to television, directing episodes of The Human Jungle, then made another teen musical in the vein of The Golden Disc, It's All Happening (1963), with Tommy Steele.

He returned to Hammer for a swashbuckler, The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964) which starred Christopher Lee, who would make several movies with Sharp. By now Kiss of the Vampire had been released, and Sharp started receiving offers to direct more horror films; he says Milton Subotsky offered him the choice of three scripts but Sharp liked none of them. Instead Sharp made Witchcraft (1964), for producer Robert L. Lippert. Sharp called it "a little four-week movie, very quickly done, but it received some lovely notices".

Sharp reteamed with Lee for The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), produced by Harry Alan Towers in Ireland. Sharp later said "I like Harry, a great deal... but Harry will get more kick out of making $5 in a slightly crooked and fast way, than he would making $100 legitimately; he's a dealer rather than a movie maker, and he enjoys getting the best part of a deal. But he does have a certain enthusiasm, and a sense of showmanship. In order to make a good film while working with Harry, you have to be insistent."

Sharp made two more films for Towers, Our Man in Marrakesh (1966), a spy spoof starring Tony Randall, and The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), again with Lee. After this he worked on an adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Sleeper Awakes for American International Pictures; Sharp said Sam Arkoff, head of AIP ultimately decided not to make this movie because it did "not have enough sex and violence".

Sharp then made Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (1967), an adventure tale in the vein of Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines for Towers. Sharp and Towers were meant to follow this with Casanova, a film in the style of Tom Jones (1963) from a script by Peter Yeldham to be shot in Czechoslovakia starring Horst Buchholz. This film was ultimately cancelled due to tensions following the Six-Day War. Also not made was another proposed Sharp-Towers collaboration, Legion of the Damned, based on a script by Harry Spalding, which was to have been shot in Spain; Sharp says Towers was unable to raise the finance, and their collaborations ended. Sharp was meant to direct the feature film version of Till Death Us Do Part but clashed with Johnny Speight over the script and was fired before filming.

Sharp worked on a number of films which did not get made including Turncoat from a script by Peter Yeldham, a project with Judy Geeson called Dead, and a film in Israel for the producers of Puppet on a Chain. According to Filmink "it’s a great shame Sharp only worked with" Hammer three times "because he was one of their best ever directors."

Sharp was put under long-term contract to a company called Scotia who assigned him to direct Psychomania (1973), the final movie of George Sanders. This picture has become a cult classic; Sharp called it "great fun to do, especially after doing several films in a row like The Violent Enemy. It was a great change, geared for a younger audience as it was." Scotia loaned out Sharp's services to another company so he could direct Dark Places (1973). Sharp then developed further projects with Scotia, and worked for months on another project to be made in Israel; neither was made, nor was a proposed version of the Robin Hood story.

Sharp's next project was Callan (1974), a big screen adaptation of the TV series starring Edward Woodward (1967–72). During the making of that film Sharp received an offer to direct a thriller, Hennessy (1975), with Rod Steiger in the title role, as an IRA man out to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II. Sharp worked on the film for months before deciding to leave the project, which was ultimately never made. Greg Smith, who produced The Thirty Nine Steps, said he hired Sharp "because he's one of Britain's best action adventure directors and he was familiar with the period." The film was very popular. Following this Sharp was going to make a version of two other MacLean novels - Goodbye California, with Charlton Heston, and Air Force One is Down - but the finance fell through for both. Neither made were adaptations of Quicksand by Wilfred Greatorex and Scoop by Evelyn Waugh.

Later career

Sharp returned to TV with episodes of Hammer House of Horror (1980) ("Guardian of the Abyss") and QED (1982) (TV series).

Personal life

Sharp married Australian actress Gwenda Wilson in 1945, after appearing on stage with her in Kiss and Tell. two sons and a daughter. Another son, Massive Attack producer Jonny Dollar, predeceased him in 2009.

Filmography

As actor

Smithy (1946)
The Changing Life (1958) (documentary)
Keeping the Peace (1959) (documentary)
The Golden Disc (1959) – also script
The Adventures of Hal 5 (1959) – also script
Linda (1960)
The Professionals (1960)
Ghost Squad (1961–62) (TV series)
The Human Jungle (1963) (TV series) – episode "A Friend of the Serjeant Major"
Two Guys Abroad (1962)
It's All Happening (1963)
Kiss of the Vampire (1963)
Witchcraft (1964)
The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964)
Curse of the Fly (1965)
The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966)
Our Man in Marrakesh (1966)
The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)
The Violent Enemy (1967)
Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (1967)
The Avengers (1968) (TV series) – episodes "Get-A-Way!", "The Curious Case of the Countless Clues", "Invasion of the Earthmen"
The Champions (1969) (TV series) – episode "Project Zero"
Taste of Excitement (1969) – also script
Dark Places (1973) – also script
Psychomania (1973)
Callan (1974)
Hennessy (1975)
The Four Feathers (1978) (TV film)
The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)
Bear Island (1979) – also script
Hammer House of Horror (1980) (TV series) — episode "Guardian of the Abyss"
QED (1982) (TV series) – episode "The Limehouse Connection"
A Woman of Substance (1985) (TV mini-series)
What Waits Below (1985)
Tusitala (1986) (TV mini-series)
Hold the Dream (1986) (TV)
Tears in the Rain (1988) (TV)
Act of Will (1989) (TV)

Unmade projects

Sharp was announced for the following projects which were not made:

Sleeper Awakens (circa 1967) from the novel by H. G. Wells with Christopher Lee and Vincent Price for Harry Alan Towers
Spaceborn – an action suspense story that was to start filming in 1972
Philby (circa 1977) – biopic of Kim Philby starring Michael Caine in the lead role supported by Nicol Williamson as Guy Burgess and Vanessa Redgrave as Philby's first wife
Outpost (circa 1983) - a "futuristic action drama"

Theatre credits

The Man from Toronto (January 1940) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor
You Can't Take It with You by Kaufman and Hart (April 1940) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor
I Killed the Count by Alec Coppel (August 1940) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor
Tonight at 8.30 – "Hands Across the Sea" and "Ways and Means" by Noël Coward (October 1940) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor
Our Town by Thornton Wilder (March 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor
revue at Theatre Royal Hobart (April 1941) – actor
Dear Octopus (May 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – assistant producer
Quiet Wedding (June 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor
Silver Lining Revue (June 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – performer
Stage Door (mid 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – producer
The Late Christopher Bean (1942) – Melbourne – actor
Khaki Kapers musical revue (April 1943) – Theatre Royal, Hobart – contributing writer
The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse by Barre Lyndon (December 1944) – Comedy Theatre, Melbourne – actor
Kiss and Tell (1944–45) – national tour for J.C. Williamson Ltd – actor
Arsenic and Old Lace (1945) – national tour for J.C. Williamson Ltd – actor
The Dancing Years by Ivor Novello (June 1946) – His Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne

Radio credits

Joseph Lister, Surgeon (March 1944)
The Lawsons (1945) (serial) - recurring role as Eric
Never Say Die (June 1947)
Robbery Under Arms (1950) (serial)
Journey Into Space (1957) (serial)