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John D. Hancock

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John D. Hancock (born 12 February 1939, Kansas City, Missouri) is an American stage and film director, producer and writer. He is the son of Ralph and Ella Mae Rosenthal Hancock.[1] His father was a musician with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, Illinois and his mother a school teacher. Hancock spent his youth between their home in Chicago and their fruit farm in La Porte, Indiana. In high school he was the Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Youth Orchestra playing the violin.[2] He is perhaps best known for his work on Bang the Drum Slowly.

Career

Hancock graduated from Harvard University.[3] He continued his theatrical studies in Europe with a grant from Harvard including observing Bertolt Brecht's Berliner Ensemble.

He made his 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[4][5] at the American Place Theatre and in 1968 Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream[4] at the Theatre de Lys with sets by Jim Dine. Hancock won the Obie for Distinguished Director for the 1967-68 season.[4][5] 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."[6][7] Hancock's theatrical work includes direction of both classic and contemporary plays, from Shakespeare to Saul Bellow.[8]

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.[9] He later was appointed Artistic Director of the Pittsburgh Playhouse [10] 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--..."[11]

Hancock wrote and directed the play The Brother in 2007 for a 12-week run at the Theatre Building in Chicago.[12] The spy thriller is based on the book written by Sam Roberts noted author and New York Times editor.[13] 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."[14]

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[12] which opened to rave reviews from the Chicago Reader.[15]

In July 2009, Noises Off directed by John Hancock played to rave reviews and sell out houses at the Wellfleet Harbor Arts Theatre Julie Harris Stage on Cape Cod, MA.[16] "Making his Wellfleet debut, Academy Award-nominated and Obie Award-winning director John Hancock displays his ability to make a play flow smoothly. A fast-paced romp from beginning to end. A backstage pass to hilarity."[17] "If you need a laugh, you're guaranteed to get many of them at this Noises Off. Director John Hancock is working here almost more as traffic cop or circus ringmaster or knife juggler as he skillfully keeps his nine actors racing through meticulous comedic choreography."[18] "Academy Award-nominated and Obie Award-winning director John Hancock has pulled together a cast of nine who are experts in timing, the main ingredient for this fact-paced play within a play. WHAT's Noises Off is an assignment in glee, it is a sure winner that brings not only hee-haws from the audience but gut-wrenching chortles. Be prepared to laugh."[19] "The audiences have been literally gasping, hooting, roaring with laughter! It closed out it record breaking run directed by John Hancock."[20]

1970, his Sticky My Fingers... Fleet My Feet  was nominated for the Short-Subject Live-Action Oscar.[21] Hancock directed this award winning short film with a grant from the American Film Institute.[22] 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.[23] Sticky My Fingers...Fleet My Feet is available in many libraries.[24]

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.[25] He was divorced from Ann Arensberg in 1974, and married actress Dorothy Tristan in December 1975.

Hancock served on the Board of Trustees for the American Film Institute between 1973-1977.[26]

A very difficult and controversial period that surrounded Hancock involved Jaws 2 which impacted his career as a director. Hancock did not have the experience to deal with the bureaucracy and became a pawn between the powerful political Hollywood studio players.[27] 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".[28] "My Jaws 2 was darker than the first Jaws. I thought, 'This Island has suffered a terrible calamity and we ought to show the residue of that.' We really got into it and took it seriously. We treated it as if Jaws had really happended and these are the reprecussions on the community. The economy is ruined because no one wants to go to Amity after the shark. Roy Sheider's Brody is haunted by it. He has nightmares, and sees sharks everywhere."[29] "Not everyone wanted the dark tone. "When she saw the dailies, Verna Fields said, 'It's so contrasty and blue, can that be changed if we decided to fix that in post [production]?' The cameraman said 'Absolutely!' That didn't become a problem - the problem really was the power struggle between Zanuck and Sheinberg over the overages on the first picture and 'who was the better man' - that kind of thing."[30] "Obviously, what I should have done then was to get Zanuck and Sheinberg in the same roon and say, "Okay", you guys should give me direction, because I really don't want to get between you two. I was caught between these huge forces like a babe in the woods and paid the price for it. Jaws 2 is a very bitter, painful experience that took years to recover from."[31] 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.[32] The role was taken over by Jeannot Szwarc.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Hancock directed episodes of NBC's Hill Street Blues[7] and CBS's Twilight Zone[7] on television and in films such as the Nick Nolte prison story Weeds and the holiday family movie Prancer.[25]

In 1998, Hancock opened his production company FilmAcres [7] in LaPorte, IN. In 1999, he produced and directed A Piece of Eden starring Tyne Daly.[33] It is a semi-autobiographical story about a fruit farm and the relationship between a father and his son. The suspense thriller Suspended Animation [34] was directed by Hancock in 2001.

Awards

  • Brandeis University - Citation in Film[35] - it reads as follows:

"A gifted young director, he won an Academy Award Nomination with his first film a short subject titled Sticky My Fingers...Fleet My Feet. His next effort a full length feature, was a psychological thriller, Let's Scare Jessica to Death. It moved Mr. Hancock from comedy to terror in one long leap. He took yet another leap forward in his most ambitions and certainly his best film to date, with a fine sense of pace and artful composition, this recent work help pop Robert DeNiro into stardom and introduced another fine actor, Michael Moriarty, to films. His flair for warm comedy, gentle satire and strong emotional sensitivity combine to fashion motion pictures that are increasingly hailed by critics and audiences alike."

[36]


  • Creative Arts Award Commission for Sticky My Fingers...Fleet My Feet.


  • Outstanding Achievement Critics Choice - Sticky My Fingers...Fleet My Feet. American Film Institute [37]

References

  1. ^ Vital Records, 2400 Troost Ave., Kansas City, MO 61408
  2. ^ http://www.filmacres.com/HANCOCK.HTML
  3. ^ Harvard 1961 Alumni Association
  4. ^ a b c d http://www.IOBDB.com
  5. ^ a b c http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm
  6. ^ Cue Magazine, 1967
  7. ^ a b c d http://www.filmacres.com
  8. ^ http://filmacres.com/HANCOCK.HTMN#anchor859283
  9. ^ Stone, Judith, Making A Small Miracle, The New York Times, January 2, 1966
  10. ^ Novick, Julius (1968). Beyond Broadway The Quest for Permanent Theatres New York: Hill and Wang, SBN 8090-0547-6, p31-35
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ a b http://www.theatrebuildingchicago.org
  13. ^ http://www.reelchicago.com/story.cfm?storyID=1677
  14. ^ Kleinman, Kelly, Chicago Public Radio-WWEBZ, Eight Forty-Eight, Dueling Critics, Pick of the Week, September 9, 2007
  15. ^ http://chicagoreader.com/theatre, September 2007
  16. ^ W.H.A.T.-Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, August 2009
  17. ^ Watters, John. WHAT's Noises Off puts laughter center stage. Barnstable Patriot, July 10, 2009. www.barnstablepatriot.com
  18. ^ Driscoll, Kathi Scrizzi, WHAT's 'Noises Off' whips right along. Cape Cod Times, July 02, 2009.
  19. ^ North, Melora B. WHAT's 'Noises Off' is spot-on comedy in Wellfleet, Provincetown Banner, July 11, 2009.
  20. ^ Zinn, Jeff. W.H.A.T. - Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater Blog, August 19, 2009
  21. ^ "Awards for John D. Hancock" at IMDb
  22. ^ http://www.AmericanFilmInstitue.com
  23. ^ http://www.IMDB.com/Bananas
  24. ^ www.worldcat.org/Sticky My Feet...Fleet My Feet
  25. ^ a b Meet the Director, Writer and Producers!
  26. ^ http://www. American Film Institute.com
  27. ^ Jankiewicy, Patrick. (2009) Just When You Thought It Ws Safe: A JAWS Companion, BearManor Media, Albanby, GA, ISBN 1-59383-334-7. p.190
  28. ^ Loynd, Ray (1978). The Jaws 2 Log. London: W.H. Allen. p. 66. ISBN 0-426-18868-3.
  29. ^ Janiewicz, Patrick, (2009) Just When You Thought It Was Safe: A JAWS Companion. BearManor Media, Albanby, GA, ISBN 1-59383-334-7. p. 187
  30. ^ Jankiewicz, Patrick. (2009) Just When You Thought It Was Safe: A JAWS Companion, BearsManor Media, Albanby, GA, ISBN 1-59383-334-7. p. 187-188
  31. ^ Jankiewicz, Patrick. (2009) Just When You Thought It Was Safe: A JAWS Companion, BearManor Media Albanby, GA, ISBN 1-59383-334-7. p.190
  32. ^ Loynd, p 70
  33. ^ http://imdb.com/A Piece of Eden
  34. ^ http://imdb.com/Suspended Animation
  35. ^ www.Brandeis University.com
  36. ^ Bernstein, Marvin H., President Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 1978
  37. ^ www.AmericanFilmInstitute.com
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