CAUSE: She died in New Brunswick, Canada, of a heart attack, aged 82.
Tony Hancock
Born May 12, 1924
Died June 25, 1968
The Lad Himself. Born in Birmingham, one of three sons (the elder was killed in the Second World War, the younger became a showbiz agent and keeper of his brother’s reputation), Anthony John Hancock was undoubtedly one of the most successful post-war comedians Britain has produced. Like many comedians, he was also a manic depressive (Harry Secombe substituted for Hancock in three episodes of the radio show because the star was in a mental hospital) and abhorred the physical act of parting with money. He rarely carried cash. Once, after writing a cheque for £5,000, Hancock had to drink whisky to recover. Starting on the radio on November 2, 1954, with his ‘repertory’ company of Hattie Jacques, Sid James, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams, Hancock’s Half Hour, after a slow start, became required listening for virtually the whole country. The scripts were written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson (who met when both were patients in a TB clinic). Williams used many funny voices on the show and pioneered the catch-phrase “Stop messin’ about!” which Hancock was later to dismiss as “a cardboardian stereotype”. On July 6, 1956, the show moved to television. Only Sid James made the transition as a regular from the wireless to the small screen. Kerr disappeared completely, Williams vanished after six weeks and Jacques made only rare appearances. It seemed Hancock could do no wrong, although he disliked the shows, calling the set “a bloody death cell … with an execution once a week.” His programmes contained classic one-liners, viz:. “A pint?! Have you gone mad – that’s very nearly an armful!” (The Blood Donor) and “Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain?” (Twelve Angry Men) However, his national popularity was not enough for the Lad Himself. He yearned for international success and made a number of unsuccessful films such as The Rebel (1961), which he hated, and The Punch & Judy Man (1962), playing Wally Pinner, as an attempt to cross over to a wider audience. Hancock abandoned Sid James but, more importantly, he jettisoned his writers Galton and Simpson (who went on to create Steptoe & Son in the time they had allocated for writing more Hancock s). Without financial remuneration, Galton & Simpson had worked on three scripts tailor-made for Hancock. He rejected them all. It was the biggest blunder of his career. If ever there was a comedian who could not function without writers, that comedian was Tony Hancock. He made a series for independent television that began on January 3, 1963, and ran for 13 weeks. It went down like the proverbial lead balloon. Another ITV series, called simply Hancock’s (in 1967), saw Hancock as the wholly unbelievable owner of a nightclub. It was a disaster. Hancock began drinking even more heavily and had difficulty remembering his lines. Gerald Thomas, director of the highly successful Carry On films, proposed a film that would reunite Hancock with Sid James. James was enthusiastic but Hancock nixed the idea. Hancock was a strange mixture. He hated to be touched. He was a violent husband to his two wives. He also had a secret gay side that led him to patronise certain bars in Soho. Indeed, he had attempted to seduce singer Matt Monro in October 1962 and received a smack in the face for his troubles.
CAUSE: In March 1968 Hancock went to Australia in an attempt to revive his flagging career. He was to film 13 shows returning to his old character. With three episodes in the can and after rehearsals for the fourth finished, Hancock returned to his Sydney hotel room. The next day, June 25, 1968, four days after his second divorce, Tony Hancock committed suicide, overdosing on barbiturates washed down with vodka. He was 44 years old. He left two suicide notes one of which contained the poignant phrase, “Things seemed to go wrong too many times.” Comedian Willie Rushton was given the task of escorting Hancock’s ashes back to England. However, the plane was filling up and the seat next to Rushton was required. He explained his dilemma to a stewardess who took the urn to the first-class cabin. As Rushton went to collect it there was a single red rose and a note by it. The note read, “Thank you for making us laugh.” He left £32,559.
FURTHER READING: Tony Hancock – Philip Oakes (London: Woburn-Futura, 1975); Tony Hancock: ‘Artiste’ – Roger Wilmut (London: Methuen, 1986); When The Wind Changed: The Life And Death Of Tony Hancock – Cliff Goodwin (London: Century, 1999).
Irene Handl
Born December 28, 1901
Died November 29, 1987
Reliable straight woman. Irene Handl who was born at 13 Leith Mansions, Paddington, London, the second daughter of a Viennese banker, was one of the mainstays of British comedy for many, many years. She worked with almost every comedian going. She began acting in the Thirties on the stage, making her first film playing a chambermaid in Missing, Believed Married (1937). She was a stalwart, never quite making the big time until the television show For The Love Of Ada (1970) playing Ada Cresswell opposite Wilfred Pickles. The film version was not a success. Many of her other films were, including Spellbound (1940) as Mrs Nugent, Give Us The Moon (1943) as Miss Haddock, Brief Encounter (1946), The History Of Mr Polly (1949), Cardboard Cavalier (1949) as Lady Agnes, The Belles Of St Trinian’s (1954) as Miss Gale, A Kid For Two Farthings (1955) as Mrs Abramowitz, Carry On Nurse (1958) as Madge Hickson, I’m All Right Jack (1959) as Mrs Kite, Carlton-Browne Of The F.O. (1959) as Mrs Carter, School For Scoundrels (1960) as Mrs Stringer, Carry On Constable (1960), Doctor In Love (1960) as Professor MacRitchie, The Rebel (1961) as Mrs Crevatte, The Pure Hell Of St Trinian’s (1961) as Miss Harker-Parker, The Italian Job (1969) as Miss Peach, Doctor In Trouble (1970) as Mrs Dailey, The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes (1970) as Mrs Hudson, Confessions Of A Driving Instructor (1976) as Miss Slenderparts, Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977) as Mrs Phillimore, Adventures Of A Private Eye (1977) as Miss Friggin, Come Play With Me (1977) as Lady Bovington, The Last Remake Of Beau Geste (1977) as Miss Wormwood, The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1978) as Mrs Barrymore and Absolute Beginners (1986) as Mrs Larkin. She never married.
CAUSE: She died in her sleep at 31 Viscount Court, 1 Pembridge Villas, Kensington, west London, aged 85. She left £376,134.
Tommy Handley
Born January 17, 1892
Died January 9, 1949
It’s that man again! Born at 13 Threlfall Street, Toxteth Park, Liverpool, the son of a dairy farmer, he began his professional showbiz career in 1917, first broadcasting seven years later. It was the wireless that made Tommy Handley a star – his show ITMA becoming required listening for millions of Britons for ten years from July 12, 1939 until the last show on January 5, 1949. Handley made few feaure films but they included Elstree Calling (1930), Tommy Handley In Making A Christmas Pudding (1933) playing himself, Two Men In A Box (1938), It’s That Man Again (1942) as Mayor Handley and Time Flies (1943) as Tommy. It is a common misconception to presume the “man” in ITMA was Handley himself. It wasn’t. As his biographer and ITMA scriptwriter, Ted Kavanagh, reveals, the “man” was actually Adolf Hitler. Handley’s hobbies included cycling, golf, reading and attending criminal trials at the Old Bailey. On February 19, 1929 he married (Rosalind) Jean Allistone (d. 1958) in London. There were no children.
CAUSE: Tommy Handley died of a cerebral haemorrhage in a London nursing home at 29 Cleveland Gardens, Paddington, eight days before his 57th birthday. He left £63,181 11s 6d.
FURTHER READING: Tommy Handley – Ted Kavanagh (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1949).
William Hanna
Born July 14, 1910
Died March 21, 2001
Animator extraordinaire. With his partner Joseph R. Barbera, William Denby Hanna was responsible for some of the most popular cartoons of the twentieth century. The names of Hanna-Barbera have become renowned as probably the most successful television animators in the world. Among their creations were Top Cat (based on Bilko), The Flintstones (based on The Honeymooners), Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quick-Draw McGraw, The Jetsons, Touché Turtle, Atom Ant, Secret Squirrel, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, Wacky Races, The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop, Dastardly And Muttley In Their Flying Machine
s and, possibly the most popular, Scooby Doo, Where Are You? Hanna-Barbera began their working partnership in 1939 while working at MGM where they created a series of Oscar-winning Tom and Jerry cartoons. They formed their own independent production company in 1957 and have since created more than 150 cartoon series. Bill Hanna was born in Melrose, New Mexico, the son of William John Hanna and Avice Joyce Denby. After school he studied journalism and engineering at college and worked as a structural engineer for a building firm. One of his first jobs was to oversee the building of the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. The Depression cost him his job but he found work as a general dogsbody at a cartoon company, and in 1930 joined the company that made Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. On June 7, 1937, he joined MGM in Culver City and the following month Joe Barbera joined the staff. The two became firm friends and began working together unofficially. In 1939 they created Tom And Jerry. The two almost decided on a dog and a fox before plumping for the cat and the mouse. Tom and Jerry first appeared in Puss Gets The Boot which won an Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short in 1940. Over the next fifteen years, under the supervision of producer Fred Quimby, they created 113 cartoons featuring the cat and the mouse. Between 1940 and 1952 they won seven Oscars and 12 nominations. Barbera was responsible for drawing the story board while Hanna spent his time on the technical side of productions. In 1955 and 1957 they won two more Academy Award nominations. It was in July 1957 when MGM began cutting back their cartoon output that the two men formed their own company. December 14, 1957 saw the début of their first television show, Ruff And Reddy. As well as their original programming Hanna-Barbera produced animated versions of popular live-action shows or popular personalities such as Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, The Harlem Globetrotters and many more. Hanna married Violet B. Wogatzke on August 7, 1936 and had two children, David William and Bonnie Jeane.
CAUSE: Hanna died aged 90 at his home in North Hollywood, California, from natural causes. He is buried in Ascension Cemetery, Lake Forest, Orange County, California.
Sir Cedric Hardwicke
Born February 19, 1893
Died August 6, 1964
Fruity-voiced thesp. Born in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, the only son of a doctor (there were two younger daughters), Cedric Webster Hardwicke intended to follow in his father’s footsteps but didn’t pass the requisite exams and instead enrolled in RADA. In 1913 he joined Frank Benson’s Shakespeare Company and the following year moved to the Old Vic. In 1913 he had also made his first film, Riches And Rogues (1913), but didn’t appear before the cameras again for 13 years. Meanwhile, his theatre career flourished playing Magnus in The Apple Cart, Captain Andy in Show Boat and Edward Barrett in The Barretts Of Wimpole Street. In 1914 he joined the army, where he stayed for seven years. He was the last British officer to leave the war zone. In 1927 he married actress Helena Pickard (d. 1959) and had one son, Edward, who became an actor and was well known to television audiences as Dr Watson to Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes. Following his divorce, Cedric Hardwicke married actress Mary Scott in 1959 and had another son before another divorce. His films included Nelson (1926) as Horatio Nelson, The Dreyfus Case (1931) as Captain Alfred Dreyfus, Nell Gwyn (1934) as Charles II, Jew Suess (1934) as Rabbi Gabriel, Bella Donna (1934) as Dr Isaacson, Peg Of Old Drury (1935) as David Garrick, Becky Sharp (1935) as the Marquis of Steyne, Tudor Rose (1936) as the Earl of Warwick, Things To Come (1936) as Theotocopulos, King Solomon’s Mines (1937) as Allan Quartermain, Stanley And Livingstone (1939) as Dr David Livingstone, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939) as Jean Frollo, Tom Brown’s School Days (1940) as Doctor Arnold, The Ghost Of Frankenstein (1942) as Dr Ludwig Frankenstein, The Lodger (1944) as Robert Burton, Wilson (1944) as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, The Picture Of Dorian Gray (1945), Nicholas Nickleby (1947) as Ralph Nickleby, Tycoon (1947) as Frederick Alexander, I Remember Mama (1948) as Mr Hyde, The Winslow Boy (1948) as Arthur Winslow, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court (1949) as King Arthur, The Desert Fox: The Story Of Rommel (1951) as Dr Karl Strolin, Salome as Caesar Tiberius, Richard III as Edward Plantagenet, Around The World In 80 Days (1956) as Sir Francis Gromarty and The Pumpkin Eater (1964). He was knighted in 1934. Towards the end of his life, he suffered from impotence and nicknamed himself “Sir Seldom Hardprick”.
CAUSE: He died in New York aged 71 from a lung ailment.
Jean Harlow
(HARLEAN HARLOW CARPENTER)
Born March 3, 1911
Died June 7, 1937
Platinum blonde. After Marilyn Monroe, Jean Harlow is probably the most potent female sex symbol of the twentieth century. Born at 7.40pm weighing 9lb at 3344 Olive Street, Kansas City, Missouri, 34-24-36 Harlow began making films in 1928, appearing in Honor Bound, but went unnoticed until Double Whoopee (1929) where she played opposite Laurel & Hardy. In The Saturday Night Kid (1929) she was cast as Hazel. The star of the film was Clara Bow, whose mantle as the cinema’s leading sex symbol Jean Harlow would soon inherit. When she was 18 and still known by her real name she had a screen test for Hell’s Angels (1930). It didn’t go well. Screenwriter Joseph Moncure March observed, “My God, she’s got a shape like a dustpan.” Director Howard Hughes concurred: “In my opinion, she’s nix.” She still got the part and became notorious for asking Ben Lyon on screen, “Would you be shocked if I changed into something more comfortable?” The 5́2½˝ Jean’s first marriage ended in a steamy divorce in January 1931 after Charles Fremont McGrew II (whom she married in Waukegan, Illinois, on September 20, 1927) accused Jean of posing for indecent pictures. While still married, Jean was constantly seen with a parade of handsome leading men, at parties, at dinners, horseback riding and at the beach. She was the toast of Hollywood, the most desired girl in town, indeed the world. Jean was given the house, money McGrew owed her, and $375-a-month alimony – plus the assurance that she could have the use of a car for as long as she lived. But Jean gave back everything. She only wanted a moral victory – and the judge gave it to her. That year she appeared in City Lights (1931), Iron Man (1931) as Rose, The Public Enemy (1931) as Gwen Allen, Goldie (1931) as Goldie, Platinum Blonde (1931) as Ann Schuyler and The Secret Six (1931) as Anne Courtland. She was no stranger to death. Canine superstar Rin Tin Tin died in her arms on August 8, 1932, and her second husband, MGM producer Paul Bern, died at their home, 9820 Easton Drive, Beverly Hills, of a gunshot wound just two months after their wedding, under bizarre circumstances. Still only 22, she married for the third time (to Harold G. ‘Hal’ Rosson in Yuma, Arizona, on September 18, 1933) but that match was destined not to last either. A divorce was granted on the grounds of her husband’s cruelty. Meanwhile, she appeared in Talking Screen Snapshots (1932), Three Wise Girls (1932) as Cassie Barnes, The Beast Of The City (1932) as Daisy Stevens, Red-Headed Woman (1932) as Lillian ‘Red’ Andrews Legendre, Red Dust (1932) as Vantine, Dinner At Eight (1933) as Kitty Packard, Hold Your Man (1933) as Ruby Adams and Bombshell (1933) as Lola Burns. Novelist Graham Greene noted, “There is no sign her acting would ever have progressed beyond the scope of the restless shoulders and the protuberant breasts; her body technique was the gangster’s technique – she toted a breast like a man totes a gun.” To make her nipples stick out, she rubbed them with ice before a scene and rarely wore a bra.
CAUSE: In 1936, while working on the movie Saratoga, Harlow fell ill. She suffered from colds and had three impacted wisdom teeth removed. She was hospitalised for several weeks. Harlow’s mother, known as Mother Jean Bello, took control of her daughter’s convalescence. She made sure Jean slept at night, even if that meant the use of drink and drugs. In the morning she would shake her daughter awake and make her drink coffee. At the end of each day, Harlow would drowsily attempt to learn her lines for the next day, before falling into bed dog tired. Her nights were not helped by her mother, a devout Christian Scientist, praying aloud in her room. Harlow told her boyfriend, William Powell, and her agent how ill she felt but Mother Jean’s religious beliefs would not allow her daughter to seek conventional medical
advice. With the film just six days from wrapping, Harlow collapsed on the set. She would never return. Her mother took her home and refused admittance to all visitors, telling callers that her daughter was resting peacefully with no signs of illness. Jean complained of feeling hot but her mother told her to concentrate on feeling cold as she was and all would be well. When Harlow did not return to the set emissaries from the studio were sent to her house at 512 North Palm Drive, Beverly Hills, but again Mother Jean refused to admit anyone. Even Clark Gable was turned away. He later returned with Harlow’s agent and two men from the studio. Finally, they saw Harlow and were horrified by her poorly condition. They insisted Mother Jean call a doctor. She laughed at them, saying she had told the sickness to leave her daughter’s body and soon Jean would be well again. In the end a doctor was called and diagnosed inflammation of the gall bladder, demanding that surgery be performed immediately. Mother Jean refused to consider the idea. Didn’t these fools know that she, Mother Jean, would cure her daughter? Eventually, she agreed that the physician could administer painkillers but only on condition that she would continue her form of healing. Nurses did what they could for Jean but her damaged kidneys were making their work all but superfluous. They insisted Jean be taken at once to the hospital for surgery but Mother Jean still refused. “There is no death,” she insisted. Eventually, William Powell rang studio head Louis B. Mayer to inform him of his star’s condition. Within minutes of Mayer’s edict coming through Harlow was in an ambulance being rushed to hospital. When she was examined it was decided she was too weak to be operated on. She was given blood transfusions but it was too late, much too late. She died, because of Mother Jean’s blundering stubbornness, at 11.37am. Just 26 years old, Harlow was buried in the Jean Harlow room of The Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery. The room cost her boyfriend, William Powell, a reputed $25,000.
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 84