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''''''John D. Hancock''''' (born 12 February 1939, (Kansas City, Missouri) is an American director and writer best known for directing Bang the Drum Slowly with Robert De Niro. Father (Ralph) was a musician, playing the bass violin and doubling on the tuba with the NBC orchestra in Chicago. Mother (Ella Mae Rosenthal) was a school teacher. In his youth he split his time between Chicago, IL and a LaPorte, IN fruit farm. Learning from his father's musicality John played the violin and was the Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Youth Orchestra. Searching for a liberal education John attended Harvard. After taking a class as a freshman on the works of Shakespeare he quickly shifted focus to the theatre arts. John continued his theatrical studies in Europe through a grant from Harvard. He spent the time observing Bertolt Brecht's Berliner Ensemble. Taking a political stance early on, Hancock received major publicity for protesting the bomb tests Kennedy approved. The New York Times ran a photo on the front page showing John Hancock, Julian Beck, Judith Malina, and Joe Chaikin beaten bloody by the police in Times Square. Hancock made his NYC directorial debut at twenty-two with the hit Off-Broadway production of Brecht's ''A Man's A Man''. This was followed by Robert Lowell's ''Endicott'' and the Red Cross at the American Place Theatre, and Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at the Theater de Lys with sets by Jim Dine, for which Hancock received the Obie Award. 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." His theatrical work includes direction of both classic and contemporary plays, from Shakespeare to Saul Bellow. His success on the New York stage led to his being appointed Artistic Director of the famed San Francisco Actors Workshop in the mid 60's and later of the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the New Repertory Theatre Company in New York. Hancock has received widespread critical acclaim for his approach to the work of many contemporary and classic playwrights. He worked closely on several occasions with Tennessee Williams, who says in his autobiography that of all the directors he ever worked with, Hancock was "the most gifted for cuts and transpositions." In 1970, with a grant from the American Film Institute, Hancock directed the short film, ''Sticky My Fingers, Fleet My Feet'', for which he received an Academy Award nomination. CBS bought the short film and aired it during halftime of their Thanksgiving football game. It was released nationally with Woody Allen's feature Bananas. He directed his first feature ''Let's Scare Jessica to Death'' (Paramount 1971), a creepy little tale of murder and deception, and followed with his most critically acclaimed work, ''Bang the Drum Slowly'' (Paramount 1973), which advanced the careers of stars Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarty. ''Bang the Drum Slowly'' opened to wildly enthusiastic reviews, including Richard Schickel's Time Magazine rave that it was "very possibly the best movie about sport ever made in this country. Director Hancock has great, knowledgeable fun with the game, but the genius of his movie lies in its introduction of the one subject that superbly conditioned young men rarely think about: death." He followed with ''Baby Blue Marine'' (Columbia 1976) and ''California Dreamin''g (AIP 1979) before venturing into series TV during the 1980s and 1990's, helming episodes of NBC's ''Hill Street Blues'' and CBS's ''Twilight Zone'', among others. Hancock returned to features as the author and director of ''Weeds'' (DEG 1987), co-writing with his wife, actress Dorothy Tristan whom he married in December of 1975. The film is a unique character study of cons-on-the-boards, based on Rick Cluchey's real-life experiences with the San Quentin Drama Workshop. He then directed ''Prancer'' (Orion 1989), starring Sam Elliott, Cloris Leachman, Abe Vigoda and Rebecca Harrell, which he shot on his family's fruit farm in LaPorte County, Indiana. Though the film worked for kids as a charming fantasy about a child's undying devotion to an animal, Hancock was also able to provide adults with an effectively sentimental mirror of childhood innocence. In 1988 Hancock shot the HBO movie ''Steal the Sky'' (Mariel Hemingway) in Israel during the first Intifada. Surrounded by the Israeli army it was filmed in the West Bank. In 1998, he opened his own production company FILMACRES in LaPorte, Indiana. He has produced and directed the feature film ''A Piece of Eden'' in 1999, a semi-autobiographical story about a fruit farm and the relationship between a father and his son. He also used FilmAcres and his hometown again when he directed the suspense thriller ''Suspended Animation'' in 2001-2002. Hancock has served on the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute, is a member of the Academy, received the Brandeis Citation in Film, the Christopher medal, First Prize at Karlovy Vary and many other honors and awards. '''Filmography''' 1. ''Suspended Animation'' (2001)...aka Mayhem (Australia: DVD title) 2. ''A Piece of Eden'' (2000) 3. ''Prancer'' (1989) 4. ''Steal the Sky'' (1988) (TV) 5. ''Weeds'' (1987) 6. ''"The Twilight Zone"'' (5 episodes, 1985 - 1986)... aka The New Twilight Zone (Australia) ---a. ''A Saucer of Loneliness'' (1986) ---b. ''Take My Life... PLease!/Devil's Alphabet/The Library'' (1986) ---c. ''Profile in Silver/Button, Button'' (1986) ---d. ''If She Dies/Ye Gods'' (1985) ---e. ''Healer/Children's Zoo/Kentucky Rye'' (1985) 7. ''"Lady Blue"'' (1985) TV series 8. ''"Cover Up"'' (1984) TV series 9. ''"Hill Street Blues"'' (1981) TV series 10. ''California Dreaming'' (1979) 11. ''Baby Blue Marine'' (1976) 12. ''Bang the Drum Slowly'' (1973) 13. ''Let's Scare Jessica to Death'' (1971) ... aka The Secret Beneath the Lake (Canada: English title: promotional title) 14. Sticky My Fingers... Fleet My Feet (1970)'