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Anthony John Hancock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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Anthony John Hancock, best known as Tony Hancock (May 12, 1924 - June
26, 1968) was a major figure in British television and radio comedy in
the 1950s and 1960s. |
Working with scripts
from Alan Simpson and Ray Galton the show lasted for five years and
over a hundred episodes, featuring Sid James in every episode as well
as roles for Bill Kerr, Moira Lister, Hattie Jacques, Warren Mitchell
and Kenneth Williams. Hancock also moved onto television in 1956 with a
show also called Hancock's Half Hour for the first six series (the
seventh in 1961 was only 25 minutes long and so the name was changed to
Hancock). Examples of these programmes may be heard on the digital
radio station BBC 7 each Tuesday, for instance on-line at 19:30 London
time (=GMT during the winter months) at the official BBC7 site.
Hancock's character
in these series is called "Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock" - as the
name suggests, the character is a larger-than-life version of Hancock's
real self.
Hancock also starred
in the 1960 film The Rebel where he plays the role of an office worker
turned artist who meets international acclaim after moving to Paris. In
the US, the film was retitled Call Me Genius to avoid clashing with the
title of a TV show. Unfortunately American critics saw the new title as
egotistical and the film flopped. Even today it seldom appears in
American movie guides under either title.
Hancock always
dreamed of being a major international star, especially in the US, but
failed to realise that his style of humour was uniquely British and
would probably have confused American audiences. This was demonstrated
by his second film, The Punch and Judy Man, in which he plays a
struggling seaside entertainer in a boring little town who dreams of a
better life. Sylvia Syms plays his nagging social-climber of a wife,
and John Le Mesurier plays a sand sculptor. The film's humour is
bitter-sweet and nicely understated and perfectly tailored to British
audiences. American audiences might not understand it.
In early 1960
Hancock appeared on the BBC's Face to Face, a half-hour in-depth
interview programme conducted by John Freeman. Freeman asked Hancock
many searching questions about his life and work. Hancock often apeared
uncomfortable with the questions, but answered them frankly and
honestly. Some of Hancock's friends felt that the interview was more
like an interrogation, but Hancock approved the interview for
broadcast. Hancock had always been highly self-critical, and it is
possible that the interview heightened this tendency, contributing to
his later psychological problems.
One of the most
famous episodes of Hancock's series is The Blood Donor, in which he
goes to a clinic to give blood. This contains classic lines such as, "A
pint? Why, that's very nearly an armful!" (The doctor's response: "You
won't have an empty arm...or an empty anything!") Another classic
episode is The Radio Ham, in which Hancock plays a ham radio enthusiast
who receives a mayday call from a ship in distress but keeps getting
distracted just before he can take down its position. Both of these
episodes were later rewritten and re-recorded in the style of a radio
programme for a 1961 LP, and these versions have been continuously
available on LP, tape and CD ever since.
More recently the
BBC has issued digitally-remastered CDs of the surviving radio episodes
(sadly there are several still missing, presumed wiped) in six box
sets, one per series. There have also been video releases of the BBC TV
series, but only one Region 2 DVD to date, featuring episodes from the
last TV series (without Sid James).
Shortly before
recording the original version of "The Blood Donor" Hancock was
involved in a minor car accident. He was not badly hurt, but his
confidence was shaken and he was unable to learn his lines, and so the
producer suggested using teleprompters (TV monitors displaying the
relevant sections of script) so that he could read the lines instead.
Unfortunately, Hancock liked the idea so much that he came to rely on
teleprompters instead of learning scripts.
Hancock was so
jealous of Sid James's popularity that he had him removed from the
show. He also dispensed with Galton and Simpson (who went on to write
Steptoe and Son), but his career (and his marriage) declined
thereafter, leading him to alcoholism and depression.
He moved to ATV in
1963 with different writers, and continued the series up to 1967.
Hancock went to Australia in March 1968 and he committed suicide in
Sydney in June.
There is a statue in his honour in Birmingham.
Biography:
Tony Hancock: 'Artiste', A Tony Hancock Companion (1978) by Roger Wilmut
Contains full details of Hancock's stage, radio, TV and film appearances.
External link
Hancock in Birmingham
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