Douglas Hickox

Douglas Hickox
Born	10 January 1929
Died	25 July 1988
Nationality	English
Occupation(s)	Film director, television director
Years active	1950-1988
Known for	Theatre of Blood Brannigan Zulu Dawn The Hound of the Baskervilles
Spouse	Anne V. Coates (1958–1988)

Douglas Hickox (10 January 1929 – 25 July 1988) was an English film and television director. Hickox was born in London, where he was educated at Emanuel School. Hickox worked extensively as an assistant director and second unit director throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. ‘’The British B Film’’ (Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane; BFI, 2009) credits him with working on over thirty musical shorts and a handful of jazz/pop supporting featurettes. He made his first major picture in 1970. Over the next ten years, he developed a reputation for the wit and style of his direction, and for his taut action sequences. His work includes Les Bicyclettes de Belsize (1968), Entertaining Mr Sloane (1969), Sitting Target (1972), Theatre of Blood (1973), Brannigan (1975), Sky Riders (1976) and Zulu Dawn (1979). He worked on various TV programmes in the 1980s until his death. He died in a London hospital following a heart surgery operation at age 59.

Hickox was married to Anne V. Coates, the Oscar-winning editor of Lawrence of Arabia. After his death, his second wife Annabel approached the Raindance Film Festival with an annual bequest from Douglas' estate. This bequest led directly to the creation of the British Independent Film Awards. In recognition of Douglas's commitment and support for new talent, BIFA inaugurated the Douglas Hickox Award, which is given to a British director on their debut feature.

Douglas had two sons, Anthony Hickox (b. 1959) also a director, and James D.R. Hickox (b. 1965) and two daughters, one with Coates, and one with 2nd wife Annabel. Emma Hickox (b. 1964), is a successful film editor. Anthony Hickox is known for Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992), whilst he was Executive Producer on Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995) directed by his brother James D.R. Hickox. Emma E. Hickox's resume includes The Brylcreem Boys, Kinky Boots, The Jacket, The Boat that Rocked, Blue Crush, Rock of Ages and A Walk to Remember.

Douglas Hickox was buried in Putney Vale Cemetery, London.

Filmography

• Prelude to Fame (1950) - 3rd AD
• Raiders in the Sky (1953) aka Appointment in London - 3rd AD
• Both Sides of the Law (1953) aka Street Corner -3rd AD
• Murder at 3am (1953) - 2nd AD
• Black 13 (1953) - 2nd AD
• The Master Plan (1954) - assistant director
• Time Is My Enemy (1954) - assistant director
• Adventure in the Hopfields (1954) - assistant director
• Shadow of Fear (1955) aka Before I Wake - assistant director
• Shadow of a Man (1955) - 1st AD
• The Secret (1955) - assistant director
• They Can't Hang Me (1955) - assistant director
• ITV Play of the Week - "The Salt Land" (1955) - assistant director
• Theatre Royal (1955) (TV series) - assistant director
• It's a Great Day! (1955) - assistant director
• The Secret Tent (1956) - assistant director
• Strangers' Meeting (1957) - assistant director
• The Spaniard's Curse (1958) - assistant director
• The Haunted Strangler (1958) - assistant director
• Fiend Without a Face (1958) - assistant director
• Missiles from Hell (1958) aka Battle of the V1 - assistant director
• Mingaloo (1958) (short) - assistant director
• The Invisible Man (1959) - 2nd unit director
• The Giant Behemoth (1959) aka Behemoth, the Sea Monster - director
• The House in Marsh Road (1960) aka Invisible Creature - 1st AD
• The Snake Woman (1961) - assistant director
• Double Bunk (1961) - assistant director
• Murder She Said (1961) - assistant director
• Four Hits and a Mister (1962) (short) -director
• It's All Over Town (1964) - director
• Disk-O-Tek Holiday (1964) - director
• Les bicyclettes de Belsize (1968) (Short) - director
• Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970) - director
• Sitting Target (1972) - director
• Theatre of Blood (1973) - director
• Brannigan (1975) - director
• Sky Riders (1976) - director
• The Philips Time Machine (1977) (documentary) - director
• Zulu Dawn (1979) - director
• The Phoenix (1982) (TV series) - director 3 episodes
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) (TV movie) - director
• The Master of Ballantrae (1984) (TV movie) - director
• Mistral's Daughter (1984) - Miniseries; director 2 episodes
• Blackout (1985) - director
• Sins (1986) - Miniseries; director 3 episodes
• I'll Take Manhattan (1987) - Miniseries; director 2 episodes
• Dirty Dozen: The Series (1988) (TV series) - director 8 episodes

External links

• Douglas Hickox at IMDb
• The Douglas Hickox Award