Biography

Philip David Charles Leacock (8 October 1917 – 14 July 1990) was an English television and film director and producer. His brother was documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock. Born in London, England, Leacock spent his childhood in the Canary Islands. He began his career directing documentaries and later turned to fiction films. He was known for his films about children, particularly The Kidnappers (US: The Little Kidnappers, 1953), which gained Honorary Juvenile Acting Oscars for two of its performers, and The Spanish Gardener (1956) starring Dirk Bogarde. He also directed Innocent Sinners (1958) with Flora Robson, The Rabbit Trap (1959) with Ernest Borgnine, and The War Lover (1962) with Steve McQueen, based on John Hersey's novel about a World War II pilot. He began to work mainly in Hollywood, where he made Take a Giant Step (1959) about a black youth's encounter with racism and Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960) about an aspiring young pianist whose mother is a drug addict. Around this time, he began to work in television, directing episodes of Gunsmoke, Route 66, The Waltons, The Defenders, and The New Land. He also directed many segments of the American series Eight Is Enough (1977–1981). He retired in 1987 after directing a three-part television drama about the Salem witch hunts titled Three Sovereigns for Sister Sarah, which starred Vanessa Redgrave. Leacock died while on vacation with his family in London on 14 July 1990.