Philip Leacock

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 Herseys 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 youths 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 19771981 He retired in 1987 after directing a threepart 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