John Hough (director)

John Hough /hɔːf/^[1] (born 21 November 1941)^[2] is a British film and television director. He is primarily known for his suspense films of the 1970s and 1980s,^[3] including Twins of Evil (1971), The Legend of Hell House (1973), The Incubus (1982) and American Gothic (1988), as well as the 1974 action thriller Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.

John Hough
Born	(1941-11-21) 21 November 1941 (age 83) London, England
Occupation	Film director

Career

British TV

After many credits as a second unit director on The Baron, The Avengers and The Champions, Hough took his first job as a director on the 1968 season of The Avengers, directing episodes such as "Super Secret Cypher Snatch" and "Homicide and Old Lace".

"ITC was a very special place to work in", he said later. "And the people cared. Instead of asking you to do it quicker and with less quality, they'd push you to excel yourself. It was creative and interesting, but very disciplined. It was like Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel on a nine-to-five contract."^[4]

British films

Hough's TV work led to a TV pilot for a proposed Robin Hood TV show, Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood in 1969. Even though the series never materialised, the pilot was picked up by Hammer Films, which distributed it theatrically.^{[citation needed]}

"That one sank without trace", Hough recalled in the notes for his biography on the DVD of his 1980 film The Watcher in the Woods, "but in 1970 a Hollywood producer named Paul Maslanksy came over here looking for a new director to work on a remake of The Window (1949), in which a young boy is the sole witness to a murder and is then tracked down by the assassin."^[5]

The film Eyewitness (1970) was well received; Hammer then approached him to make the final film in its erotic vampire horror 'Karnstein' trilogy, Twins of Evil (1971).^{[citation needed]}

Hollywood Career

Hough moved to Hollywood with the intention of making inroads to direct for Disney.^[6] While doing so, a new production company, Academy Pictures Corporation (started by former American International Pictures partner, James H. Nicholson), hired Hough to direct the low-budget action picture Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. The film was very successful in the summer of 1974, and helped open the doors to Disney, where Hough directed Escape to Witch Mountain which was successful and Watcher In The Woods.^{[citation needed]}

Return to Britain

Hough later directed three of the TV movies in the 1984 anthology series Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense.

He directed a series of films based on Barbara Cartland novels starting with A Hazard of Hearts.^[7]

He also directed Something to Believe In (1998) for Lew Grade.^[8]

Filmography

Film

Director

• Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood (1969)
• Eyewitness (1970)
• Twins of Evil (1971)
• Treasure Island (1972)
• The Legend of Hell House (1973)
• Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974)
• Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
• Brass Target (1978)
• Return from Witch Mountain (1978)
• The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
• The Incubus (1982)
• The Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1982)
• Biggles (1986)
• Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988)
• American Gothic (1988)
• Bad Karma (2002)

Boom assistant

• The Scales of Justice (1962)

3rd assistant director

• The Bargee (1964)

2nd unit director

• The Man in a Looking Glass (1965)

Producer

• Lovely War (1999)

Executive producer

• What's a Carry On? (1998)
• Mr. Thunderbird: The Gerry Anderson Story (2000)
• The Backyard (2002)
• The Human Race (2003)

Unmade films

• The Fan Club (1974) – for Lawrence Gordon at Columbia Pictures based on novel by Irwin Wallace.^[9]
• Poe – about Edgar Allan Poe (1976)^[10]

Television

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer
1985	Black Arrow	Yes	No	No
1987	A Hazard of Hearts	Yes	Yes	No
1989	The Lady and the Highwayman	Yes	Yes	No
1990	A Ghost in Monte Carlo	Yes	Yes	No
1991	Duel of Hearts	Yes	Yes	No
1998	Something to Believe In	Yes	Yes	Yes

TV series

• The Avengers (1968–1969)
• The Protectors (1972–1974)
• The Zoo Gang (1974)
• The New Avengers (1976) (Episode "Cat Amongst the Pigeons")
• Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984) Associate producer, director || Television series ||
• Dempsey and Makepeace (1986) (Episode "Extreme Prejudice")

2nd unit director

• The Baron (1966–1967)
• The Avengers (1968–1969)
• The Champions (1968–1969)

Associate producer

• Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984)

Producer

• Omnibus (1984) (Episode "Joan Littlewood's Lovely War")