Tony Hancock

Tony Hancock

Born: May 12, 1924
Died: June 25, 1968
High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series Hancock's Half Hour, first broadcast on radio from 1954, then on television from 1956, in which he soon formed a strong professional and personal bond with comic actor Sid James. Although Hancock's decision to cease working with James when it became known in early 1960 disappointed many at the time, his last BBC series in 1961 contains some of his best remembered work ("The Blood Donor"). After breaking with his scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson later that year, his career took a downward course.

Movies for Tony Hancock...

Hancock: Very Nearly an Armful
Title: Hancock: Very Nearly an Armful
Character: Self (Archival Footage)
Released: January 14, 2023
Type: Movie
Hancock fan Jack Dee presents Tony Hancock: Very Nearly An Armful. Taking its title from celebrated Hancock episode The Blood Donor, this two-hour retrospective features previously unseen scripts, scrapbooks and production files belonging to the lad himself, as well as personal items such as photos and letters.
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Title: The Glass Box
Character: Self (archival footage)
Released: April 9, 1985
Type: TV
Shelly Rohde meets various celebrities to ask them which personal treasures they would seal away in a glass box for future generations. Guests include Hughie Green, Edward Heath and Victoria Wood.
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To See Such Fun
Title: To See Such Fun
Released: November 1, 1977
Type: Movie
Compilation of classic British comedy moments
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Hancock Down Under
Title: Hancock Down Under
Character: Tony Hancock
Released: January 25, 1972
Type: Movie
Hancock, (who was voted Britain's best-ever comic 35 years after his death) leaves his home in Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, England for warmer, more challenging climes. He encounters the Australian natives on his terms having dragged his attitudes with him halfway across the world.
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Hancock at the Royal Festival Hall
Title: Hancock at the Royal Festival Hall
Character: Self
Released: October 15, 1966
Type: Movie
A one-off special performance by Tony Hancock of his stand-up comedy act (which rarely changed), at the Royal Festival Hall, London.
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The Wrong Box
Title: The Wrong Box
Character: Detective
Released: June 19, 1966
Type: Movie
In Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other—or can be made to have seemed to do so.
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Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes
Title: Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes
Character: Harry Popperwell
Released: June 16, 1965
Type: Movie
In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley announces an air race and offers £10,000 to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. But one of the participants, Percy, plots to sabotage his competitor's planes. Will Percy triumph?
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The Punch and Judy Man
Title: The Punch and Judy Man
Character: Walter Pinner
Released: April 8, 1963
Type: Movie
Walter Pinner is the titular Punch And Judy Man plying his trade in the seaside town of Piltdown. Unhappily married to his social climbing wife, who gets him to perform at the 60th Anniversary celebrations of the town in front of all the local dignitaries, his hatred of snobbery comes to a hilarious head.
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The Rebel
Title: The Rebel
Character: Anthony Hancock
Released: March 7, 1961
Type: Movie
Anthony Hancock gives up his office job to become an abstract artist. He has a lot of enthusiasm, but little talent, and critics scorn his work. Nevertheless, he impresses an emerging very talented artist. Hancock proceeds to con the art world into thinking he is a genius.
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Face to Face: Tony Hancock
Title: Face to Face: Tony Hancock
Character: Self
Released: February 17, 1960
Type: Movie
Tony Hancock engages in self-reflection, looking back at his childhood, his need to work, his health issues, and whether he could ever truly be happy. The program is believed to have played a role in his eventual downfall by amplifying his proclivity for self-criticism. During the interview, John Freeman posed probing questions about Hancock's life and career. Despite his admiration for the interviewer, Hancock seemed uneasy but responded candidly. Known for his inherent self-critical nature, it is frequently posited that this interview intensified that trait, ultimately contributing to his subsequent challenges. According to Roger, Hancock's brother, "It was the most significant misstep he ever took. I believe it all stemmed from that moment. Self-analysis - that became his undoing.
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Title: Christmas Night with the Stars
Released: December 25, 1958
Type: TV
A gala programme broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972 and also revived in 1994. It was hosted by a leading star and featured specially made short, seasonal editions of the previous year's most popular sitcoms and light entertainment programmes.
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The Government Inspector
Title: The Government Inspector
Released: February 9, 1958
Type: Movie
Gogol's comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the extensive political corruption of Imperial Russia.
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Hancock's Half Hour: Volume 1
Title: Hancock's Half Hour: Volume 1
Released: December 16, 1957
Type: Movie
Thirty-five years after his premature death in 1968 Tony Hancock was voted Britain's best-ever comedy performer. Here's a chance to see what made him so special - the surviving episodes from Series 2 and Series 3 of Hancock's Half Hour, plus a Christmas special. Episodes include: "The Alpine Holiday", "Air Steward Hancock", "The Last Of The Many", "The Lawyer: The Crown vs Sidney James", "Competitions: How To Win Money And Influence People" and "There's An Airfield At The Bottom Of My Garden". The Christmas special is "Hancock's Forty-Three Minutes: The East Cheam Repertory Company".
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Title: Hancock's Half Hour
Released: July 6, 1956
Type: TV
Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. The final television series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone. Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam. The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development.
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Orders Are Orders
Title: Orders Are Orders
Character: Lt. Wilfred Cartroad
Released: October 1, 1954
Type: Movie
An American movie company wants to shoot a science-fiction film using a British army barracks as a location, and its soldiers as actors.