John D. Hancock: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 18:21, 6 February 2010
John D. Hancock (born 12 February 1939, Kansas City, Missouri) he is an American stage and film director, producer and writer. He is the son of Ralph and Ella Mae Rosenthal Hancock. [1][citation needed] His father was a musician with the NBC orchestra in Chicago and his mother a school teacher. Hancock spent his youth between their home in Chicago and their fruit farm in LaPorte, IN. In high school he was the Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Youth Orchestra playing the violin.[2]
Hancock graduated from Harvard. [3] He continued his theatrical studies in Europe with a grant from Harvard including observing Bertolt Brecht's Berliner Ensemble.
He made his New York City directorial debut at age twenty-two with the Off-Broadway hit production of Brecht's A Man's A Man.[4][5] This was followed by Robert Lowell's Endicott and the Red Cross[6][7] at the American Place Theatre and in 1968 Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream[8] at the Theatre de Lys with sets by Jim Dine. Hancock won the Obie for Distinguished Director for the 1967-68 season.[9][10] Cue Magazine noted, "This brutal, vulgar, and erotic production of Shakespeare's sex fantasy is the most original and arresting I've ever witnessed. This is the best of all the Dreams and an important pioneering effort in re-interpreting the play."[11][12] Hancock's theatrical work includes direction of both classic and contemporary plays, from Shakespeare to Saul Bellow.[13]
Hancock's success on the New York stage led to his appointment as Artistic Director of the famed San Francisco Actor's Workshop in 1965. [14] He later was appointed Artistic Director of the Pittsburgh Playhouse [15] and The New Repertory Theatre in New York City.
Hancock worked closely on several occasions with Tennessee Williams, who states in his book MEMOIRS "... under the inspired direction of John Hancock--the only director who has ever suggested to me transpositions of material that were artistically effective--..."[16]
Hancock wrote and directed the play The Brother in 2007 for a 12-week run at the Theatre Building in Chicago.[17] The spy thriller is based on the book written by Sam Roberts noted author and New York Times editor.[18] The play is based mostly on the untold story of David Greenglass who turned in Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for giving atomic bomb secrets to the Russians. "It (The Brother) is incredibly powerful. It is exceptional and really not to be missed."[19]
In 2007, Hancock also directed a 12-week run of the Pultizer winner 'night,MOTHER starring Elaine Rivkin and Dorothy Tristan at the Theatre Building in Chicago[20] which opened to rave reviews from the Chicago Reader.[21]
1970, his Sticky My Fingers... Fleet My Feet was nominated for the Short-Subject Live-Action Oscar.[22] Hancock directed this award winning short film with a grant from the American Film Institute.[23] CBS purchased the short film and aired it during halftime of their Thanksgiving football game. It was released nationally with the Woody Allen feature Bananas.[24] Sticky My Fingers...Fleet My Feet is available in many libraries.[25]
As a feature film director, he is best known for the 1973 film Bang the Drum Slowly, starring Robert De Niro. His other film-directing credits in the 1970s were California Dreaming, Let's Scare Jessica to Death, and Baby Blue Marine.[26] He was divorced from Ann Arensberg in 1974, and married actress Dorothy Tristan in December 1975.
He was the original director of Jaws 2, with his wife invited to work on rewrites of the screenplay. Hancock began to feel the pressure of directing his first epic adventure film "with only three film credits, and all small-scale dramas".[27] The producers were unhappy with his material, and, in June 1977, after a meeting with the producers and Universal executives, the director was fired. He and his wife were unexpectedly whisked away to Rome and production was shut down for a few weeks. They had been involved in the film for eighteen months.[28] The role was taken over by Jeannot Szwarc.
In the 1980s, he directed on television, and in films such as the Nick Nolte prison story Weeds and the holiday family movie Prancer.[26]
He is also a theater director and writer for screen and stage.
References
- ^ Vital Records, 2400 Troost Ave., Kansas City, MO 61408
- ^ http://www.filmacres.com/HANCOCK.HTML
- ^ Harvard 1961 Alumni Association
- ^ http://www.IOBDB.com
- ^ http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm
- ^ http://www.IOBDB.com
- ^ http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm
- ^ http://www.IOBDB.com
- ^ http://www.IOBDB.com
- ^ http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm
- ^ Cue Magazine, 1967
- ^ http://www.filmacres.com
- ^ http://filmacres.com/HANCOCK.HTMN#anchor859283
- ^ Stone, Judith, Making A Small Miracle, The New York Times, January 2,1966
- ^ Novick, Julius (1968). Beyond Broadway The Quest for Permanent Theatres New York: Hill and Wang, SBN 8090-0547-6, p31-35
- ^ Williams, Tennessee (1975,2006). MEMOIRS, With An Introduction By John Waters New York: A New Directions Book, ISBN-13: 978-0-8112-1669-2, p. 201
- ^ http://www.theatrebuildingchicago.org
- ^ http://www.reelchicago.com/story.cfm?storyID=1677
- ^ Kleinman, Kelly, Chicago Public Radio-WWEBZ, Eight Forty-Eight, Dueling Critics, Pick of the Week, September 9, 2007
- ^ http://www.theatrebuildingchicago.org
- ^ http://chicagoreader.com/theatre, September 2007
- ^ "Awards for John D. Hancock" at IMDb
- ^ http://www.AmericanFilmInstitue.com
- ^ http://www.IMDB.com/Bananas
- ^ www.worldcat.org/Sticky My Feet...Fleet My Feet
- ^ a b Meet the Director, Writer and Producers!
- ^ Loynd, Ray (1978). The Jaws 2 Log. London: W.H. Allen. p. 66. ISBN 0-426-18868-3.
- ^ Loynd, p 70