Robin Hardy (film director)
British film director and writer (1929–2016)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robin St. Clair Rimington Hardy (2 October 1929 – 1 July 2016) was an English author and film director. His most famous directorial work is The Wicker Man (1973),[3] and his last project was a film adaptation of his novel Cowboys for Christ, which was retitled The Wicker Tree (2011).[3]
2 October 1929
Robin Hardy | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robin St. Clair Rimington Hardy[1] 2 October 1929 Wimbledon, London, England |
| Died | 1 July 2016 (aged 86) Reading, Berkshire, England |
| Other name | R. S. Rimington[2] |
| Occupations | Film director, writer |
Early life
Hardy was born in Wimbledon, London, and went to Bradfield College. He studied art in Paris.[1]
Career
Hardy began directing for the National Film Board of Canada and for the Esso World Theater strand on the PBS channel in the US.[1] Upon returning to London he co-founded the advertising agency Hardy Shaffer Ferguson Avery with playwright and screenwriter Anthony Shaffer, and collaborated with Shaffer in making The Wicker Man (1973), a folk horror film starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee. After that he returned to America, where he made commercials.[1] He later wrote historical novels and was involved in creating historical theme parks in the US.[4][5] In addition to Cowboys for Christ, Hardy published a novelization of The Wicker Man, as well as the novel The Education of Don Juan.
Hardy had expressed interest in producing a finale to his loose Wicker Man trilogy titled The Wrath of the Gods. In 2015, a crowdfunding campaign was set up to raise funds for the film's production,[6] but ultimately fell short of its US$210,000 target.[7]
The Wicker Man has a cult status among horror fans,[8] and inspired a 2006 remake starring Nicolas Cage.[9]
Death
Hardy died on 1 July 2016; he was survived by his fifth wife, Victoria Webster (married 2000), and seven children.[1][10] His son, Justin Hardy, who followed him into filmmaking, died of a heart attack on July 31, 2026, having just finished work on a sequel, titled Wrath of the Gods[11], to his father's most famous film.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | The Wicker Man | Yes | No | Written by Anthony Shaffer, based on David Pinner's 1967 novel Ritual. |
| 1986 | The Fantasist | Yes | Yes | Based on the 1983 novel Goosefoot by Irish author Patrick McGinley. |
| 1989 | The Bulldance | No | Yes | also known as Forbidden Sun. Directed by Zelda Barron. |
| 2011 | The Wicker Tree | Yes | Yes | A spiritual successor to The Wicker Man, and based on Hardy's novel Cowboys for Christ. |
| 2026 | The Wrath of the Gods | No | Yes | Originally cancelled to lack of funding and Robin's death in 2016. His children finished the project in 2026. |
Novels
- The Wicker Man (1978) (with Anthony Shaffer)
- Don Juan, 1921–1946 (1979)
- The Education of Don Juan (1980)
- Don Juan's New World: America 1945 (1985)
- Call of the Wendigo (1993)
- The Killer's Club (1994)
- Cowboys for Christ (2006) (aka The Wicker Tree)
- Peace Breaks Out (2017) (with Donough O'Brien)
