Robin Hardy, the man who overcame considerable challenges to get his first film, 1973's The Wicker Man, made, has died at the age of 82.
Born Robin St. Clair Rimington Hardy in Surrey in 1929, Hardy studied art in Paris before starting his directorial career in the States and Canada, working for the Canadian Film Board and making television dramas. In the 1960s, he returned to London and started making ads, forming a company called Hardy Shaffer Ferguson Avery alongside writer Anthony Shaffer.
It was through this connection that he for the chance to make Shaffer's screenplay, a tale of isolated pagan horror called The Wicker Man. Despite its beloved status today, the film was a nightmarish production of low budgets and arguments with distributors, after production company British Lion was taken over by EMI. Executives at the parent company detested the film, making massive cuts to the original version and putting it in a double bill with Don't Look Now. One of the film's stars, Christopher Lee, always championed Hardy's vision and helped to boost its profile. Through festival screenings, more people came to appreciate it, though it would be almost thirty years before the full-length version hit cinemas. It has long since gone on to become one of the most respected and influential British horrors, inspiring a generation of filmmakers including Ben Wheatley and Edgar Wright, who credited it on Twitter to mark Hardy's passing.
The Wicker Man dominated Hardy's filmmaking career, though he also directed The Fantasist, co-wrote and produced Forbidden Sun and in 2011, made The Wicker Tree, a spiritual sequel to the original. In addition his film work, he wrote novels, including a novelisation of The Wicker Man, Cowboys For Christ and The Education Of Don Juan. In addition to those, he worked on historical novels and even got involved in creating historical theme parks in the States. He's survived by his wife, Victoria and filmmaker son, Justin.