Don Sharp

Don Sharp
Filming The Four Feathers (1977)
Born	Donald Herman Sharp (1921-04-19)19 April 1921 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Died	14 December 2011(2011-12-14) (aged 90) Cornwall, England
Occupation	Producer, director, writer

Donald Herman "Don" Sharp (19 April 1921 – 14 December 2011) was an Australian-born British film director.

His best known films were made for Hammer Studios in the 1960s, and included The Kiss of the Vampire (1962) and Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1965). Also in 1965 he directed The Face of Fu Manchu, based on the character created by Sax Rohmer, here played by Christopher Lee. Sharp also directed the first 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.

Biography

Sharp was born in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1921, according to official military records and his own claims, even though reference sources cite 1922 as his year of birth. He attended St Virgil's College and began appearing regularly in theatre productions at the Playhouse in Hobart.^[1]

He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 7 April 1941 and was transferred to Singapore. In addition to his military duties he appeared in radio and on stage but was invalided out before the city fell to the Japanese. He went on to act in Melbourne and Hobart and was discharged on 17 March 1944 at the rank of corporal.^[2][3]

After the war Sharp worked as an actor on stage and radio throughout Australia and in Japan, primarily in Melbourne. He then moved to England where he produced and co-wrote a film, Ha'penny Breeze (1950). He continued to act with small roles in such films as The Planter's Wife (1952) and The Cruel Sea (1953). He also played the character Stephen "Mitch" Mitchell in the 1953 British science fiction radio series, Journey into Space, but began to turn increasingly to writing and directing.^[1]

Sharp directed the first British rock 'n' roll movie, The Golden Disc (1958), released a year before the Cliff Richard vehicle Expresso Bongo (1959) and a full two years ahead of Beat Girl (1960). In Psychomania (1971), Sharp creates a visual fugue by riffing on the great themes of the counter-culture era: bikers, standing stones and ritual magic.

Among his other credits are Curse of the Fly, the spy-comedy Our Man in Marrakesh (1966), the fantasy Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (1967) and the 1978 remake of The Thirty Nine Steps, starring Robert Powell. He made another foray into spy culture with his feature-length reprise of the gritty Cold War TV drama, Callan (1974) starring Edward Woodward.^[1]

In 1975 Sharp worked on producer Harry Saltzman's abandoned pet project The Micronauts, a "shrunken man" epic to have starred Gregory Peck and Lee Remick.^[4]

Sharp died on 14 December 2011, after a short spell in hospital.^[1] He was survived by his wife Mary Steele, two sons and a daughter. Another son, Massive Attack producer Jonny Dollar, predeceased him.

He was previously married to an Australian actress, Gwenda Wilson.^[5]

Filmography

As actor

• Smithy (1946)^[6]
• Ha'penny Breeze (1950) – also writer, producer
• The Planter's Wife (1952)
• The Cruel Sea (1953)
• Appointment in London (1953)
• You Know What Sailors Are (1954)
• Journey into Space (1953–54) (radio serial)
• The Red Planet (1954–55) (radio serial)

As writer only

• Background (1953)
• Conflict of Wings (1954) – also novel
• Child's Play (1954)
• Legend of a Gunfighter (1964)

2nd Unit director

• The Blue Peter (1955) – also script
• Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)
• The Fast Lady (1962)
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)
• Puppet on a Chain (1971) – also script

As director

• The Stolen Airliner (1955) – also script
• As Old as the Windmill (1957) (documentary)^[7]
• The Changing Life (1958) (documentary)^[8]
• Keeping the Peace (1959) (documentary)^[9]
• 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)
• The 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) – 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)
• Dark Places (1974)
• Hennessy (1975)
• The Four Feathers (1977)
• The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)
• Bear Island (1979) – also script
• Hammer House of Horror (1980)
• QED (1982) (TV series) – episode "The Limehouse Connection"
• A Woman of Substance (1984) (TV)
• What Waits Below (1985)
• Tusitala (1986) (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^[10]
• Spaceborn – an action suspense story that was to start filming in 1972^[11]
• 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^[12]

Theatre credits

• The Man from Toronto (January 1940) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor^[13]
• You Can't Take It with You by Kaufman and Hart (April 1940) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor^[14]
• I Killed the Count by Alec Coppel (August 1940) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor^[15][16]
• Tonight at 8.30 – "Hands Across the Sea" and "Ways and Means" by Noël Coward (October 1940) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor^[17][18]
• Our Town by Thornton Wilder (March 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor^[19]
• revue at Theatre Royal Hobart (April 1941) – actor^[20]
• Dear Octopus (May 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – assistant producer^[21]
• Quiet Wedding (June 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor^[22]
• Silver Lining Revue (June 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – performer^[23]
• Stage Door (mid 1941) – The Playhouse, Hobart – producer^[3]
• The Barretts of Wimpole Street (late 1941) – Singapore – actor^[3]
• Quality Street (1942) – Melbourne – actor^[3]
• The Late Christopher Bean (1942) – Melbourne – actor^[3]
• Interval by Sumner Locke Elliott (February 1943) – The Playhouse, Hobart – actor, assistant producer^[24]
• Khaki Kapers musical revue (April 1943) – Theatre Royal, Hobart – contributing writer^[25][26]
• The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse by Barre Lyndon (December 1944) – Comedy Theatre, Melbourne – actor^[27]
• Kiss and Tell (1944–45) – national tour for J.C. Williamson Ltd – actor^[5][28]
• Arsenic and Old Lace (1945) – national tour for J.C. Williamson Ltd – actor^[29]
• The Dancing Years by Ivor Novello (June 1946) – His Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne^[30]

Notes

External links

• Don Sharp at the Internet Movie Database
• Obituary from The Times with funeral arrangements.
• A Wasted Life: RIP Don Sharp
• "DON SHARP, DIRECTOR: AN APPRECIATION", Cinema Retro