John Hough (director)

John Hough (born 21 November 1941) is a British film and television director. He is primarily known for his suspense films of the 1970s and 1980s,[1] including Twins of Evil (1971), The Legend of Hell House (1973), The Watcher in the Woods (1980), The Incubus (1982) and American Gothic (1988).

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

Career

British TV

After many credits as a second unit director on The Baron, The Avengers and The Champions, he 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."[2]

British films

His 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.

"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."[3]

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).

Hollywood career

Hough moved to Hollywood, wanting to direct for Disney.[4]

Hough's career then hit an unexpected slump. He spent a year and a half at Columbia and a year and a half at Disney preparing films which ultimately were not made. He made no films for three years. "I had to sort of rebuild my career again", he said.[4]

Return to Britain

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

He did a series of films based on Barbara Cartland novels starting with A Hazard of Hearts.[5]

He directed Something to Believe In (1998) for Lew Grade.[6]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962	The Scales of Justice	Boom assistant
1964	The Bargee	Third assistant director
1965	The Man in a Looking Glass	Second unit director
1966–1967	The Baron	Second unit director	Television series
1968–1969	The Avengers	Second unit director, director	Television series
1968–1969	The Champions	Second unit director	Television series
1969	Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood	Director
1970	Eyewitness	Director
1971	Twins of Evil	Director
1972	Treasure Island	Director
1972–1974	The Protectors	Director	Television series
1973	The Legend of Hell House	Director
1974	The Zoo Gang	Director	Television series
1974	Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry	Director
1975	Escape to Witch Mountain	Director
1976	The New Avengers	Director	Television series; episode: "Cat Amongst the Pigeons"
1978	Brass Target	Director
1978	Return from Witch Mountain	Director
1980	The Watcher in the Woods	Director
1982	The Incubus	Director
1982	The Triumphs of a Man Called Horse	Director
1984	Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense Associate producer, director	Television series
1985	Black Arrow	Director
1986	Biggles	Director
1986	Dempsey and Makepeace	Director	Television series; episode: "Extreme Prejudice"
1987	A Hazard of Hearts	Producer, director	Television film
1988	Howling IV: The Original Nightmare	Director
1988	American Gothic	Director
1989	The Lady and the Highwayman	Producer, director	Television film
1990	A Ghost in Monte Carlo (1990)	Producer, director	Television film
1991	Duel of Hearts	Producer, director	Television film
1994	Omnibus	Producer	Television series; episode: "Joan Littlewood's Lovely War"
1998	Something to Believe In	Director, writer, producer	Television film
1998	What's a Carry On?	Executive producer	Documentary film
1999	Lovely War	Producer	Documentary film
2000	Mr. Thunderbird: The Gerry Anderson Story	Executive producer	Documentary film
2002	The Backyard	Executive producer	Documentary film
2002	Bad Karma	Director
2003	The Human Race	Executive producer

Unmade films

• The Fan Club (1974) – for Lawrence Gordon at Columbia Pictures based on novel by Irwin Wallace.[7]
• Poe – about Edgar Allan Poe (1976)[8]

References

1. "Featured Filmmaker: John Hough". IGN. 4 October 2002. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
2. Sellers, R. (30 November 2006). "No more heroes ; lew grade's cult shows from the sixties are winning a new generation of fans. so, asks robert sellers, can the ITV boss michael grade match his uncle's golden touch?". The Independent. ProQuest 311084621.
3. "Interview with John Hough". History Project.
4. "John Hough: "I am happy to say that 'Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry' is one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films"". Film Talk. 30 August 2017.
5. Billington, J. (4 September 1987). "Cartland: Every good girl does fine". USA TODAY. ProQuest 305937140.
6. Billen, A. (13 May 1998). "Ninety-one, still dancing come on, someone is looking after me " INTERVIEW,FEATURES,money is unimportant as long as you have enough to keep your family contented". Evening Standard. ProQuest 329124668.
7. "Liz set for role in 'blue bird'". Los Angeles Times. 6 September 1974. ProQuest 157619456.
8. Lochte, D. (28 November 1976). "MacDonald with all the trimmings". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 158087445.

External links

• John Hough on IMDb
• John Hough at AllMovie
• John Hough at BFI
• John Hough at TCMDB
• John Hough profile at Den of Geek