The John Freeman Interview

Freeman:
...I, I (interrupts with the intention of asking something to the effect, "You may have material success but are you actually happy in yourself?", but Hancock re-interrupts)
Hancock:
(a little irritated and knowing the gist of what Freeman was about to ask him)...wait a minute I haven't finished yet. I was going to say that erm, it...the, the, the only happiness you c...I could achieve would be to perfect the talent that I have whatever it may be, however small it may be. that is the whole purpose of it and that is the whole purpose of, of, of what I do.
Freeman:
Er, some of the newspaper writers who've tried to puzzle out what makes you tick have dec...have said that you're the 'Angst Man', the, the, the anxiety man. Now, have you any notion of what your anxiety is? Do you in fact get a kick out of your anxiety?
Hancock:
(pause)...anxiet...I don't think I c...anxiety? Can you explain that a bit more?
Freeman:
Well, something appears to be, even at the end of this conversation, to be eating you. You say that your happiness is just ahead of you still...
Hancock:
...well I...
Freeman:
...there's something troubling you about the world. I'd like to know what it is.
Hancock:
I wouldn't expect happiness. I don't, I don't think that's possible (pause) but erm, I'm very fortunate to be able to do work in something that I like. I think to, to have a...er, to work in something that is, that is pleasure...is, is all anybody can ask.
Freeman:
Erm, you wouldn't then change your way of life at all?
Hancock:
I'd try and improve it, yes.
Freeman:
Well...improve it but, you'd go on in the same way getting better at what you're doing?
Hancock:
Yes. And if such a time came that I found that I'd come to the end of what I could develop out of my own ability, limited however it may be, then I would, wouldn't want to do it any more.
Freeman:
Tony Hancock, I wonder if you really get very much out of your triumphs. You've got cars that you don't drive (Hancock laughs), er, you've got health which you tell me is a bit ropey because you find...
Hancock:
...I didn't tell you that.
Freeman:
...well you, you find it so difficult to learn your lines. You've got money that you can't really spend, you worry about your weight...
Hancock:
(nervously lights a cigarette)...I spend the money. I do, I, I enjoy it.
Freeman:
Well, what I want to put to you as a, as a final question is this; you could stop all this tomorrow if you wanted to. You're rich enough to coast along for the rest of your days, now why...
Hancock:
...money, money is of no account in this.
Freeman:
Well, tell me why you go on?
Hancock:
Well because...hmm? (Hancock wants Freeman to repeat his last question)
Freeman:
Tell me why you go on, as a last answer.
Hancock:
Because it absolutely fascinates me, because I love it and because it is my entire life.
Left pic: Hancock being sketched by Feliks Topolski for the caption card for Face to Face
Right pic: The finished caption card

 

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