- Left school at 14 and began a long series of odd jobs working as an apprentice in shipyards, as the assistant to a private detective, as an English teacher in Germany, a construction laborer, dishwasher, night switchboard operator in a burglar-alarm company, and a packer for a carpet company. Plus, he also labored for IBM.
- British National Service, 1952-54. Began his writing career as a novelist.
- Was adopted when he was six weeks old by dockworker Joseph Sharp and his wife Margaret, members of a Scottish church affiliated with the Salvation Army.
- Was married four times, and had six children and two stepsons.
- His daughter Minnie, or Rachel Sharp was married to Luke Perry.
- Once told Newsweek, he had fantasized as a child "that Humphrey Bogart was me father and Katharine Hepburn me mother".
- His daughter with Beryl Bainbridge is actress Rudi Davies.
- Strongly disliked working with both John Huston and Sam Peckinpah, although both Arthur Penn and Robert Aldrich found him very amenable and willing to do extensive rewrites on his scripts for them.
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