Tony Hancock Face to Face Interview Part 01

[macthedancinghorse]

The interviewer didn't understand him, you can tell they're just not on the same page

[gtavicecityfan02]

No half life full life consequences reference? :(

[No1RebelRebel]

maybe a one trick pony but that is what makes him so special and a joy to watch.

[AirSea1000]

While we have a brilliant interview with Tony Hancock here John Freeman's Face to Face interviews were truly brilliant. The genuine passion and feeling visbile in Freemans handling plus allowing the interviewee sufficient time to answer should have been the standard by which all serious interviews were conducted. One remebers the politicians but most of all Gilbert Harding and Adam Fait. The pity is today that too many interviewers love the sound of their own voice - e.g. Hard Talk! CHW

[naly202]

i can't help noticing the so very sad look in his eyes.

[DrTorture28]

I am the same as Hancock in that a belief in God became simply gratuitous at around the age of 15 or 16. And also that I believe that there should not be a reward for acting in a loving and caring way towards others.

[nemesis700]

lol tough questions!

[kevinastraw]

Being philosophical about comedy is like taking a rose apart and trying to see what it is by the pieces. Freeman should have kept off comedy and asked more about Hancock's ideas about life. The comedy questions went nowhere.

[tb3193]

Notice how this program focused almost entirely on its subject. In some ways this was John Freeman's series, but we hardly see him. Can you imagine any interviewer standing for that today?

[newdor]

If I remember correctly during his working career John Freeman was the UK's man in Washington DC.

He had an incisive and charming way of questioning that took many interviewee's by surprise who because of this natural charm talked about themselves more openly than we suspected they would. It would be foolish for the interviewee to appear evasive in such close-up as the 'trap' was set by Freeman, in this (at the time) new style of television interviewing.

[Lindelamare]

Anyone know where i can see the Gilbert Harding face to face?

[stevebritgimp]

The questions are very quickfire.

Tony should've just been more careful, and more of a team player. Amazing to later see the toll of those 8 years between 60-68.

[peterdcarter1]

@stevebritgimp more of a team player? maybe he should have got an office job and worked in HR. pffff

[stevebritgimp]

@peterdcarter1 Well maybe, then he might not have wrecked a marriage and ended up as a massive alcoholic, who committed suicide. Sometimes we need to acknowledge the talent of the writers we work with, and the other actors. Hancock thought he could go it alone, sacked the two best comedy writers the UK produced, and his agent. Good luck, mate.

[peterdcarter1]

@stevebritgimp Yes he had the greatest of all writers but his imperfections are part of the man, it makes him human.

And good luck to you mate.

[stevebritgimp]

@peterdcarter1 My 'good luck, mate' was directed at Tony, but good luck to you too, bud - we all need it, else we fuck up bigtime, then there's no going back. Yes, it does make him human. It makes him a dead and missed human. Sid James drove past him once near the end on a London street, and he looked dreadful, and Sid regretted not being able to stop and help. Some of us need help I think (I probably do myself).

[valentinus2009]

did you know that John Freeman is still alive? He is 95 and the last surviving member of of the 1945 parliament

[BarnacleGooseInvalid]

i'm in two minds about the interviewer actually, as i am whenever i see these olden-days films. it's genuinely provocative, which is such a welcome departure from nowadays mindlessly deferential-but-self-advertisi­ng magazine couch-time gayness, and with other interviewees - bertie russell, jung - it's the least they deserve. but this is too aggressive for such a fragile person. it's like winnie the pooh in an oxbridge interview with a terse nazi.

[uncleadolf]

@BarnacleGooseInvalid Sorry to revive such an old comment but it is on the first page. I kind of see a link between this and the probing interviews now on programmes like Shrink Wrap and, to a lesser extent, Jonathan Miller on the superior In Confidence.

[Shaker72]

P.S. Is it just me, but is there a bit of a very slight Birmingham accent coming through there? Hancock was born in Brum so it would be no surprise, but his normal speaking voice is surprisingly different to how we normally hear him.

[Shaker72]

What a lovely man. Difficult to work with, sad and tormented, but a lovely man.

[bp1963p]

Nosy Parker!

Money's vulgar!

He's asking this kind of question in a country where even asking a person's profession directly is considered vulgar.

Really!

[plumduff31]

Tony looked very nervous, did'nt he know what the interviewer was going to say?

[drumrnva]

The first time I saw this program was as it is parodied in Harry Enfield's "Norbert Smith: A Life". I hadn't realized how accurate his parody was. This is such a strange style of interview, and it makes me uncomfortable.

[OofusTwillip]

Hammering away at the question of how much money he makes is just plain rude, and gives no insight into the man at all...except in how he keeps trying to dodge it.

[mcttotal]

@OofusTwillip what a lovely man and what a wanker interviewer... when we look at journalists in retrospect we always see their ignorance - check questions thrown at bob dylan....

[scaryflakybiscuits]

Fascinating stuff. It is hard to appreciate how famous Hancock was in 1960. It was before The Beatles and he was arguably the biggest star in Britain at the time. The public were outraged by this interview and felt it was intrusive which is interesting considering the treatment celebrities are subjected to now.

[phatbassman]

What ridiculous questions.