From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John D. Hancock (born 12 February 1939, Kansas City, Missouri) is an American stage and film director, producer and writer. He is the son of Ralph and Ella Mae Rosenthal Hancock. His father was a musician with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, Illinois and his mother a school teacher. Hancock spent his youth between their home in Chicago and their fruit farm in La Porte, Indiana. In high school he was the Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Youth Orchestra playing the violin. He is perhaps best known for his work on Bang the Drum Slowly. Description above from the Wikipedia article John D. Hancock, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.