Don Sharp
| Don Sharp | |
|---|---|
Filming The Four Feathers (1977)
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| Born |
Donald Herman Sharp 19 April 1921 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Died | 14 December 2011 (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.
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 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. 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 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 with a touring English company. Among his radio performances were Escape and the Barretts of Wimpole Street.
He was invalided out before the city fell to the Japanese. He returned to Melbourne and recuperated at Heidelberg Hospital. He spent the majority of his war service in Melbourne, appearing in amateur theatre productions of "Quality Street" and "The Late Christopher Bean" as well as recorded broadcasts and ABC plays.
In early 1943 he moved to Hobart. He appeared in a theatre production of Interval by Sumner Locke Elliiot, also serving as assistant director. Following this he appeared in a theatre revue, Khaki Capers, notably in a sketch which figured a flag flown over the air force station in Singapore which Sharp had brought back with him.
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