Don Sharp was born on the island of Tasmania off of Australia, and began his show-business career there as an actor. After World War II he traveled to England and continued his acting carer. He became a director in the mid-1950s and turned out some low- and medium-budget musicals, such as the Tommy Steele vehicle It's All Happening (1963). In the mid-1960s he was hired by horror specialist Hammer Films and turned out some well-received thrillers, including The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), his first for Hammer. He worked on a few films as second-unit director, most notably Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes (1965), before returning to directing again, and turned out a string of thrillers, horror films and comedies. Towards the end of his career he worked in television on mini-series.