(piano note)
- So much of the time it seems that...
it seems that my task in a movie
is to do something differently, you know,
to walk through a door in
some sort of interesting fashion.
The passion for art can take an actor to places
they never thought possible.
- And I'm trapped in this body
and I'm stuck with this face.
And so I guess that
can kinda be childish at some times, but...
The world has seen the rise of many talented artists,
many of whom taking the world by storm,
donning a plethora of roles.
There is one gentle soul that most will know,
one whose acting range has
exceeded global expectations
time and time again.
From award-winning performances
to personal achievements-
the man that wanders all around the world.
He goes by many names, "America's Father,"
"Hollywood's Nice Guy,"
"The Everyman."
(music) (crowd chatter)
But we all know him as Tom Hanks.
(typewriter clicks)
(piano music) (wind blowing)
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks,
born 9th of July in Concord, California.
His mother, Janet Marylyn Frager
was from a Portuguese family whilst his father,
Amos Mefford Hanks, had English heritage.
The climate of his upbringing was not gentle.
Though Tom's parents were never cruel,
his father, Amos,
displayed a hardened
demeanor throughout his years.
As a child,
Amos had witnessed the m*rder of his own father,
Ernest Buel Hanks, on his family farm.
Such a horrific incident
would take a toll on his life,
clouding his judgment of
the world, and, unfortunately,
resulted in a reserved, cold outlook:
one without optimism or appreciation of the arts,
and, subsequently,
a lack of attention to his offspring.
In 1960, Tom's parents divorced.
His eldest siblings,
Sandra and Larry joined him with his father.
Whilst his youngest brother, Jim,
remained with his mother in California.
Tom was an exceptionally withdrawn and shy child
moving from home to home
due to his father's working life.
By the age of 10,
Tom and his siblings had
lived in 10 different households.
- My... my family situation
and what my dad did for a living, yeah,
we moved around quite a bit.
Well with that... I mean I...
I noticed a lot of actors, for instance,
a lot of them came from military families
where they had to do the same thing.
I mean you would think...
that that wouldn't give you
stability, but in a way it does
In an odd sort of way, it does
give you a center doesn't it?
- Well, I think that what it gave me, well, you know,
my brothers and sisters would
have something else to say
but it gave me a small bag of needs.
I think I could land in a brand new circumstance
social circumstances, brand new
school, brand new house, brand new place,
brand new city, brand new group of people around me-
and be pretty confident that... that I was all right.
You know, and that is, you know,
excellent training for an actor.
There was an air of loneliness
as Tom would feel little
emotional support from his parents.
In 1965, Amos would marry Tom's stepmother.
Frances Wong, a native of San
Francisco with Chinese descent.
Tom attended Brete Harte Middle School.
He was known to be quite unpopular,
quoting himself as a geek
and terribly, painfully shy at the time.
Though living an uncomfortable life,
Tom ensured to remain a responsible student,
rarely getting into trouble
and keeping himself closed off.
Did it take you a long time
to get confidence in yourself?
- No, I think that I...
for some reason I had it at a pretty early age.
I remember being able to go into a school
and not be really intimidated
by anything that went on there
until some guy slugged me in the head.
Then... then I'd be intimidated by something.
I remember reading something about you once
that you were like... a class...
you went through a phase where you were a class cut-up
Oh, I think all my life
I've been some form of the class cut-up, yeah.
Yeah, I was that in high school.
But I never... I never pushed authority.
I never got in trouble.
I'd always played within the rules.
And if I needed to get outside of the rules,
I would only do it with the teachers who would let me.
So I was never a... I was never a delinquent.
His mother adopted Catholicism,
though for a period of time,
Tom would find his own religious view
with an interest in pursuing
philosophical thought.
He deeply immersed himself
in evangelical Christianity.
Didn't you go through
a super serious kind of stage, too?
A religious stage? Or... - Uh, it was...
it was a degree of seriousness that went along to it,
but it was so directly
associated to the group of people,
you know, and we had fun at that, so... Yeah.
- I mean, it was something nice to hang onto.
It was a lot better than, you know,
smoking dope and listening to Led Zeppelin records,
which is what other people did.
I just didn't do that.
After middle school,
he attended Skyline High
School in Oakland, California,
making very little money
by selling popcorn and
peanuts outside the coliseum.
Tom graduated from high school in 1974,
leaving with relatively low SAT scores.
Without the finances to attend college,
he decided to enroll in Chabot, a community college
which presented Tom with a multitude of courses.
It was fate that led Tom to taking up theater,
and soon his talents began to flourish.
Tom immersed himself in theater for two years.
During this time, he met Vincent Dowling,
head of the Great Lakes Theater
Festival in Cleveland, Ohio.
It was thanks to Vincent
that Tom attended an internship at the festival
before being given the
offer to remain for three years
as a production assistant, tending to lighting,
set design, and costumes.
Though Tom had transferred
to California State University in Sacramento,
this opportunity gave him a
reason to drop out of college,
as his desires to be immersed
into the world of theater
overcame his care for education.
This isn't to say he left everything behind.
At Sacramento,
Tom formed a friendship with Samantha Lewes,
who he met during acting classes.
Tom, 21 at the time, found that 25-year-old Samantha
helped battle his loneliness.
Being an aspiring actress herself,
the two formed a romantic relationship.
And not long after, Samantha became pregnant.
In 1977, Tom's first son, Colin Hanks, was born.
Though Tom loved working on set,
he began to realize his true calling
was performing on stage as one of the actors.
Tom would win his first award,
the Cleveland Critics Circle "Best Actor" in 1978.
Such an award was presented for Tom's role as Proteus
in Shakespeare's "The Two Gentlemen of Verona..."
one of the very few times Tom would play a villain.
In 1978, the young couple, Tom and Samantha,
were married.
Hanks moved to New York City
to debut in his very first low-budget slasher film,
"He Knows You're Alone."
He would go on to work on more projects
starring in "Mazes and Monsters,"
a television movie inspired
by the role-playing game,
"Dungeons and Dragons."
Well, when I was in school,
I ended up going to the theater
around the San Francisco Bay area alone,
because I couldn't get anybody to go with me.
Uh... and seeing the, you know,
great plays and, you know, great theaters,
I had wanted to... to work in that arena.
I wanted to...
I liked the energy that was
focused in a theater on stage,
but I had originally started as a... a stage manager,
or a stage carpenter, lighting designer,
things like that.
And through osmosis of and...
and exploration in... in college and whatnot,
realized that if you're going to be in the theater,
the... the most energy, the focal point of it all,
is really on stage as an actor
underneath those lights in,
in front of that stage manager.
So, eventually I just kind of, through osmosis,
drifted off into that.
In the same year,
Tom and Samantha's daughter, Elizabeth Hanks,
was born.
Remaining faithful to his theatrical roots,
Tom would return to the
stage in Nicolo Machiavelli's,
"The Mandrake"
with the Riverside Shakespeare Company.
Soon after in 1981,
Hanks would land one of his first lead roles
in "Bosom Buddies,"
a television series running for two short seasons,
featuring Tom and Peter Scolari as advertising men
donning women's clothing
in order to remain residents in an all-woman's hotel.
Though the show was short-lived,
the co-producers noticed
Tom's natural onscreen ability.
A quote from Ian Praiser on Rolling Stone stated,
"too bad he won't be on television for long...
he'll be a movie star in two years."
- And so when the...
when the opportunity came up to do TV,
I wasn't about to pass it up 'cause this was...
bold, new territory in order to, you know,
to strike out and try
and see if you could learn anything and be good at it.
On the set of "Bosom Buddies,"
Tom would meet Rita Wilson.
The two hit it off and became
close friends in a heartbeat.
As the early eighties swept in,
Tom met writers, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mendel,
from a guest appearance on "Happy Days."
The two were developing a script
for the feature film "Splash,"
a romantic comedy depicting
a mermaid falling in love with a human.
Director Ron Howard was informed by the writers
of Hank's suitability for the bizarre premise.
Though Howard initially considered Hanks
for the role of Freddie, Allen's brother,
Hanks landed the role of lead protagonist.
The film would go on to being
a sudden box office success
catapulting Hanks into new roles
such as "Bachelor Party,"
signifying the start of Tom's close relationship
with director Ron Howard.
Unfortunately, in 1984,
Tom and Samantha would start to live separate lives
due to misunderstandings
and rising complications between the couple.
Soon the two would drift
apart and plan to file for divorce.
Following Tom's three guest
appearances on "Family Ties"
in 1986, he was presented with the opportunity
to step out of the realm of comedy
and dip his toes into more dramatic roles.
He would play David Basner,
a successful advertising executive
who deals with the repercussions
of his parents' divorce
after 36 years.
"Nothing in Common" allowed Tom
to find common ground with his father, in a way.
Though his father was not outspoken of his past,
the film served as a way of
reconnecting and understanding each other
through the means of art and performance.
It was in this same year
Tom would go public with his
relationship with Rita Wilson.
Though dealing with emotional hardships,
it was in 1987 that Tom's credibility as an actor rose.
He signed a deal with Walt Disney Studios,
where he remained in a pool of talent
for potential selection.
Sadly, Tom and Samantha would divorce,
going their separate ways.
Tom would admit the relationship
was primarily caused from his own loneliness
and irresponsibility at a young age.
Just a few days after the divorce,
Samantha would slowly fall ill.
(carnival music)
For Josh Baskin, life was a little unfair.
I told you to take out the garbage!
You're gonna miss the bus!
I'm not gonna tell you again, Josh!
Joshua Baskin!
Josh!
Until he made a little wish.
Tom Hanks' appearance in "Big"
solidified him as a major Hollywood star.
A fantasy comedy about a pre-adolescent boy
whose wish to become an adult becomes reality.
No stranger to absurdism,
Tom embraced the man-child persona
and was nominated for the Academy Award
following his incredible performance.
- You... you had to start off with a character,
and in acting blah-blah terms, you know,
Finding a center for the way your character moves.
And it... it all...
it all, you know, comes out like that.
In... in... in the case of "Big,"
what I remember about being, you know,
12 and 13 years old,
is being all elbows and knees, you know?
It's like your body is growing too fast for... for...
for your muscles or something like that.
And so you're kind of...
you're kind of out of control
and there's a... there's a lack of discipline.
But there's also a lack... I honestly don't know
how I move as a regular human being
because it... it changes
depending on what you're wearing,
and this is another aspect of... of...
you know, acting technique, blah-blah,
finding a character, is because once you discover
the clothes that the guy's gonna wear,
that makes a very, very big difference.
In the same year, both Tom and Sally Fields
co-starred as struggling comedians in "Punchline."
Just a year after his divorce with Samantha,
Tom would marry Rita Wilson
at the St. Sophia Cathedral
in London.
After the ceremony, Tom
would convert to Greek Orthodox
in respect of Rita's ancestry
and open-mindedness to faith.
On the 4th of August, 1990,
Tom's second son, Chet Hanks, was born
five years before his third son, Truman Hanks,
on the 26th of December.
Tom would discover the myth of
being a so-called "perfect parent"
opting to try the best he
could at raising his children
despite his massive public image.
On many occasions,
his sons and wife are seen
with him at Red Carpet Awards
as they celebrate as a family.
Tom's career took a slight
decline during the late eighties,
starring in a few underperforming films
which received lukewarm receptions,
especially in "Bonfire of the Vanities"
where it was apparent
Tom was seemingly miscast for the role.
With his rising image as Hollywood's "Mr. Nice Guy,"
playing sadistic characters
pulled many out of the film.
Tom then starred in "A League of Their Own" in 1992.
Such early performances were considered by Tom
as "pretentious and over-the-top."
- The... the odds, I always, felt were... were 50/50.
I always felt that I was as good as 50% who were there.
So, you know, if they...
if I'm what they're looking for, I have a 50/50 shot.
I always felt that I was better than the other 50%
just because...
because I'm a selfish actor with a swelled head.
But I think you have to...
and you have to have that as you're sitting there.
And it's not a false ego-bolstering,
confidence-building kind of move
I always just viewed that as... as the facts.
That on a good day in which I'm prepared, that I can...
I can deliver the goods.
It wasn't until 1993
where Hanks had reached
what he considered his modern era of filmmaking.
He decided to adopt a new perspective
on acting outside of his theatrical range.
He starred in Nora Ephron's, "Sleepless in Seattle,"
a massive blockbuster success
and one which granted Tom incredible reviews.
Tom Hanks' next film would act as a tonal change,
both in his acting ability and career recognition.
So are you big...
tell me, are you big Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan fans?
- Yeah - Definitely!
- We love 'em both. - You bet. Yeah!
- They're both great!
And together, it's gonna be really great.
- But I am intrigued as an actor
by the situation that that creates,
to be the average guy in
an extraordinary situation is...
I mean, that's where you explore emotion and ideas
and themes.
Tom adopted method acting
losing 35 pounds of weight and bleaching his hair
to play as Andrew Beckett,
a h*m* lawyer suffering
with AIDS in Philadelphia.
- I was heavy to begin with
because of a bunch of residual
weight from another movie.
And in order to take off everything that I could,
I went on a very structured physical regimen,
a diet and exercise that was every day,
seven days a week, for... I don't know... 16 years.
It seemed like 16 years;
it was four or five months.
His memorable performance
shed light on the stigma of h*m*
during the time of release,
combating the taboos of gay relations,
and triggered the conversation of gay rights
among the nineties mainstream viewers.
- If this was 1962,
and Rock Hudson had to pretend to be married to his,
you know, his... his publicist's secretary and...
and Louella Parsons was
still stabbing people in the back
with her newspaper column, maybe it would be a...
a tough role to take on, but believe me,
in the United States and in the UK,
there is stuff on free TV day-in and day-out
that make me playing a h*m* small potatoes
in comparison.
Philadelphia would act as
Tom's grand entrance into the limelight
as his portrayal won him
the 66th Academy Award for best actor.
If things couldn't get better than winning one Oscar,
Tom would play the titular character
in one of Hollywood's most memorable productions.
(orchestra music)
In 1994, "Forrest Gump" was released,
grossing over 600 million pounds at the box office
and presented audiences
with quotes that remain in use until this day.
My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates-
you never know what you're gonna get.
- Delightful.
This is wonderful.
I was talking to Steve Tisch,
and I understand that it...
it took him like nine years to develop this project.
How was it for you working on this project
because you have so many different characters
that you're playing all in one?
- Well, I was... I was lucky that I came on
right at the same time Eric Roth did,
so we actually talked about it
philosophically and
particularly for quite some time
before, um... uh...
uh, probably a year before the... the script was written.
So when it came in and it was what it was,
it was undeniably a thing that was worth sh**ting.
Bob was involved and there we were instantaneously!
How did it... how did it feel after you saw it
when it was edited with all those famous figures,
like over your shoulder
and in the scenes because of morphing and stuff?
- Well, that's all... that's all a pretty goofy sensation.
But you see it and you realize it's...
the odds are against you making a good movie,
so anytime that you think you've done that,
you know, you break the Bank of Monte Carlo.
Yeah, well the odds are not against you, Tom Hanks
of making a good movie or your wife, Rita Wilson!
You know, he's got Oscars on the on the...
on the wall to prove it.
- I got one! Yeah, it's nice to have it too.
And a bunch of swimming trophies!
And many nominations!
- So much of what, you know, movie goes in
is you gotta play someone who's tortured or racked
or going through something that is...
that is somehow driving him to distractions
and Forrest Gump just doesn't know what...
doesn't know what that means.
And so there ends up being a much more kind of,
kind of pure reaction to the world
as opposed to interaction with the world.
And that's... that was fun.
You've gone from playing a very
intelligent character in Philadelphia
to playing someone not so bright.
Is that really fun
for an actor to move that far across the mental-
- Well, you know, I didn't really... it's funny,
I didn't really...
I've never really thought about it that way.
The nature of the movies
are so incredibly different.
He's not... he's not poisoned by...
by any sort of cynicism.
But because of that, he comes...
it can be taken as a great naivety.
He really only..
He only has... he only knows three things.
He knows he knows about God, he knows about his mama,
and he knows about the woman that he loves, Jenny.
And after that he...
he needs nothing else in order to keep him...
keep him going.
Tom would win yet another Academy Award
being the second actor to do so back-to-back
after Spencer Tracy.
Before wanting to become an actor,
Tom Hank's greatest ambition was to be an astronaut.
It was in 1995
that he reunited with Ron Howard
and Tom's dreams became reality
with the release of "Apollo 13."
Tom's admiration and fascination with the galaxy
would later land him the NASA Public Service Award
for his commitment
to increasing the public's interest in space.
Furthermore, the asteroid 12818
Tomhanks was named after him
in respect of his achievements.
I didn't want to insult George.
I don't think I did, but you know,
we think that these fantastic machines
and these amazing senses of accomplishment are...
are relegated only to science fiction
and fantasy of motion pictures
and just the fact that we've
already had robots that have explored Jupiter
in some ways and in Mars, in other ways,
and we've had human beings
that have already traveled to
existing planets on voyages.
Um... what is... what's the...
what's the line from "Star Trek..."
"boldly gone where no men have gone before."
- What kind of things could we do, as citizens,
to curb global warming?
- To curb global warming?
You can buy the right kind of refrigerator,
you can drive the right kind of car,
you can conserve the right
kind of energy and resources.
You can plant trees.
You can not destroy trees.
You can not pave over something
that shouldn't be paved over.
You can write your congressman and make sure that...
that more wildlife refuges are saved, preserved,
and even created.
- Is the Bush administration doing enough
to curb global warming?
- I think, by and large, you'd have to say no.
I think the... I think almost at any time,
whatever administration that is in the White House
could do more.
I think in the case of the...
of our present administration,
he's got a lot of things on his plate,
no doubt about it.
We have the greatest
respect for our elected officials.
But you know what?
Part of the elected officials
that serve every four years
have to think about the next 40 years at the same time.
So that's... when they...
they have plenty of time to get on that bandwagon,
if you you ask me.
I gotta go!
Jim Lovell,
tell us what it was like when
you met him the first time,
you actually... playing this role, playing him.
So, you know about the... you knew about the incident-
- Oh, yes. Yeah, I knew all about it.
So I was... I was meeting... not somebody...
A very accomplished hero from my point of view,
and I think what every...
I think I thought what everybody thinks of
when they first meet Jim, they think,
"boy, you know, astronauts are not that tall...
they're just not that tall."
I think that irony is what sets it above
any of the other stories that... that...
that actually occurred.
They're all fascinating stories
of how we got to the moon and... and back.
But here that the triumph actually comes out of...
out of this... this failure to to...
to achieve the, flight's goals,
I think actually makes it much
more accessible to everybody.
(laughs)
- And I could say that, honestly,
I don't think we really...
I don't think we ever got mad at each other at all,
which is really kind of.
- I think actually kind of looked forward
to being able to go into the set.
Yeah.
- because it was a much... it was a much tighter unit.
We could just mumble to each other very quietly
and maybe talk to Ron over the... over the headsets
when we got to clear out.
Although there's usually one special effects guy
down at our feet
holding some kind of thing up there for us.
How you doing down there?
Good to see you!
You all right?
You have some good lunch?
Kind of like that.
Later that year,
Tom would try his hand at something completely new,
setting his sights on voice acting
for the much loved "Toy Story" franchise.
Not only was this Tom's first role
acting in an animated film,
it was also the first film to be computer-animated.
Not only did Tom portray Woody,
a loved character by millions,
he also took part in a historical achievement,
which would later branch into the world
of modern 3D animation.
Yes, I am.
I am the cowboy.
I see the tall, lanky, brooding loner of a cowboy.
So how does this differ
from all your other movies that you have done before?
- Jeepers!
I've never played a cartoon character
who was a tall, lanky cowboy before.
So this must be really exciting and different!
A whole new world, right?
- It's, uh, yeah...
it's a relatively... not too much...
not a lot of is expected of me.
Tim!
Hey, look, everybody, it's Tim Allen!
You're so cute in real life!
(crowd chatter)
It's Tim Allen.
- No, not... not me.
I'm an adult now.
I'm very big now.
I'm big.
I'm powerful and I'm... I'm an adult.
I have no child left.
- You know, in fact, he is really big.
He tried to crush everybody
who was in the recording studio.
- Yeah.
- He kind of came in and said,
"hello, I'm Tim Allen, I will crush you."
- "I'm Tim Allen. Where's my masseuse?"
- "I will crush you now."
- "Where's my masseuse?"
I constantly had massages going.
In 1996, Hanks makes his directing debut
with "That Thing You Do"
and co-produced and co-directed the docu-drama,
"From Earth to the Moon,"
a costly and ambitious project,
which proceeded to win an Emmy.
Columbia, this is Houston reading you loud and clear.
The EVA is progressing beautifully.
- Just when Tom had seemingly reached
the height of his career,
he decided to team up with Steven Spielberg in 1998
on "Saving Private Ryan."
The depiction of World w*r II
achieved another best actor
award nomination for Hanks,
alongside being a technical marvel
to rival Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now."
The journey into the two thousands
proved equally successful.
Tom would star in timeless Blockbuster hits,
"The Green Mile" and "Toy Story 2"
before tying the knot with "Cast Away" in the year 2000.
- I'm gonna talk to this lady! Hello, how are you?
- I'm fine.
- Do you have questions for me?
- Yes.
Um, what's it like working on an animated film
instead of just like a non-animated?
- Well, when you're in an animated movie,
all you're doing is going inside this dark room
and standing in front of a music stand
with a microphone above it
and that's all you get to do.
When you make a real movie, you're outdoors,
you're in a costume.
There's other people to talk to.
So it's a very different thing.
This is like doing a... a radio play in your room
all by yourself into a tape recorder
and people are on the other side of the door
listening to everything you say.
- Did you have fun working on this movie?
- I think I had a lot of fun.
I think the people are great
and I think they took very good care of us
and they think they made a nice movie.
Tom, you've had a pretty illustrious career.
You see all these kids out here,
you see a whole new generation of people
coming to see your film, how does that make you feel?
Well, I... it's... film this forever, thank goodness.
And, uh, it's always intimidating because you don't...
I don't think anybody who makes movies
wants to let them down.
You always hope that they're gonna get... you know,
they're gonna come out and they're saying,
well that was 90 minutes, it was very well spent.
What about the binging and dieting?
- The what?
The binging and dieting.
- I did not binge, but I did diet.
No purging, no binging, no purging.
Just a lot of... just be careful what you eat
and get a lot of exercise.
I think I had somehow, you know,
considered every conceivable
solitary confinement POW
castaway story in my own head
and tried to pare it down to literally how...
how do you fight that?
How do you... how do you get past...
get taking care of your day and, you know,
nothing's coming over that horizon to...
not even just rescue you, but to distract you from...
from everything that you're surrounded...
I... I... it was...
it was... I'm glad I had seven years to prepare for it.
The, I mean, the faith that you have to have is that
Bob as a filmmaker and Bill as a... a writer,
are constantly gonna be testing the material
so that what I'm doing up there,
up alone on a screen however long it is,
is actually reflective of the audience's struggle
in their own daily lives.
Even though it hasn't...
It would seem as though to have nothing to do with it.
If you can do that, that's the great power of the cinema.
Hanks returned to the filmmakers' chair in 2001,
directing and producing HBO's "Band of Brothers."
Whilst scouting locations, Tom would accidentally
fall through the rotting floor
of a building in Germany;
the incident resulted in a dislocated shoulder.
Though injured, Tom would fight on
and continue with the production of the show.
(piano music)
- Peter, I can't come to your concert tonight. I'm working.
- Working at what?
Though a slightly lesser known project,
one of Hank's personal favorite endeavors
was "Road to Perdition"
directed by the legendary director, Sam Mendes.
- You'd fall into his clutches, so to speak,
and make the film.
I... he's the finest director I've ever worked with
and I've worked with good directors.
Well, I think it's always a...
the relationship between father and son
is a very, very, very complex thing
with all sorts of layers
that just seem to go on and on forever.
So anytime you can do anything
that can tap into those kinds of universal feelings
that even in the confines of a big gangster movie,
it always... it can touch anybody.
In 2002, Hanks and his wife Rita,
would co-produce "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
Establishing a close relationship
with his fellow directors,
Tom would remain busy
also starring in the Spielberg classic,
"Catch Me If You Can."
Spielberg would go on to present
the American Film Institute's
Life Achievement Award,
and Tom would be the youngest ever
to receive such a prestigious accolade.
Sadly, on March 12th,
Samantha Lewes passed away from bone cancer
at the age of 49.
Upon confirmation, Tom was deeply hurt from the news,
as Samantha had provided him
with an unfathomable amount
of support in his younger years,
her burial would take place at Sacramento
and her legacy as an actress
would live on with both the public and Tom.
Tom's filmography had seemingly no end in sight.
Participating in giant projects every year,
Tom was established as a man
who could embody any character
that was thrown at him.
(crowd applause)
- Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Bob raise... wave, Bob, I can't see where you are.
All right, okay.
Hey, you... you visual effects geeks,
you... you clean up really good, I must say.
Usually I see you in...
in some cramped production office
or one of those industrial parks out in the valley,
and you're wearing year-old running shoes
and you're wearing cargo shorts
and you're exhausted eating pizza and diet Cokes
for months on end looking at me
on a little, little tiny computer monitor somewhere.
And you always say the same thing to me,
"boy, you're much taller in real life, Mr. Hanks"
(laughs)
and I say, "hey, you just keep working hard,
making me look so good or so strong or so fast,
or so whatever it is you're make me look."
So it's real pleasure to be here.
Raking in great success with the Coen Brothers' film,
"The Ladykillers,"
Spielberg's "The Terminal,"
and Robert Zemeckis' "Polar Express,"
where Tom played five
different on-screen characters,
a huge statement
for the incoming age of motion-capture technology.
In 2005, Hanks was voted as Vice President
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
thanks to his outstanding contribution to the arts.
From acting in "The Da Vinci Code"
and producing the animated film, "The Ant Bully,"
Tom would be approached by many executives
to maintain his creative trajectory,
producing "Starter for 10,"
and acting in "Charlie Wilson's w*r,"
and "The Great Buck Howard"
all before dipping his toes
into the much loved musical,
"Mama Mia!"
Mamma Mia! Here I go again!
My, my, how can I resist you?
And how could you possibly resist this?
Stars, super troupers, and dancing queens galore!
Mamma Mia! is the ultimate
celebration of everything Abba.
In 2010, "Toy Story 3" grossed over 1 billion,
making it the highest grossing
animated film at the time.
Hanks had become synonymous,
not just with the adult population,
but with children too.
On one encounter, a child in an elevator
refused to believe Tom played
as Woody from the franchise.
- And then the mother tries to explain,
"no, the voice is recorded
and the actor who is the voice, this is the actor!"
They... the kids just don't get it at all.
They say, "where's the vest?
Where's the cowboy hat?
You're not very tall."
And so I say, "all right, close your eyes."
And they go, "what?"
I say, "just close your eyes."
So the kid goes...
and then I say,
"we gotta get back to Andy's room right away, guys!"
and then they go...
(audience laughs)
- In 2013,
Hanks opened up about his type 2 diabetes diagnosis,
a causation from, as he stated,
"unhealthy eating habits and poor genes."
Tom, however,
would not let his diagnosis hinder his work rate
or performances,
and instead chose to find a healthy medium,
opting for daily exercises
and finding healthier eating habits
to ensure his own longevity.
Continuing his journey, Tom would take the role
of James Donovan in "Bridge of Spies,"
releasing his own book, "Alan Bean Plus Four,"
along the way.
Tom had developed a unique style
in how he approached his many characters.
- If we don't get this right, we're doomed, you know?
If we don't get some aspect of life in 1961 in Berlin
down correct, we're really quite, uh...
we're fools.
Though all unique, he would excel
and subsequently be
praised for his ability to perform
as ordinary characters
in extraordinary situations.
Being a man of the people, in 2016,
he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
the nation's highest civilian award
by President Barack Obama.
- Hitler's armies would not
have stopped their k*lling
had we not fought them on the beaches
and on the landing routes...
in the fields and on the streets.
We must never forget
that there was nothing
inevitable about our victory
in that terrible w*r.
It was won through the courage
and character of our people.
- Tom Hanks was shown some big love in the Big Apple
at Lincoln Center's
star-studded tribute to the actor.
Stepping out for the gala were Tom's wife, Rita Wilson,
and son, Colin, plus a slew of a-list friends
from actresses Julia Roberts, Charlize Theron,
and Sally Field, to directors Steven Spielberg,
Ron Howard, and Robert Zemeckis.
- I loved it.
It's effortless with a person like that.
He's so kind and lovely and just great.
- He's been so consistently good for so long
that it's very exciting to be here
to honor somebody like him because it's so deserved.
- He's just an amazing guy.
He really is.
Wonderful talent and just incredible.
- He's an everyman.
He's eminently watchable
and he's a really nice guy, which is fantastic.
- His ambition has driven him
not to necessarily be more commercial,
although he has been, but to be creatively ambitious.
- There's that scene in...
in Forest Gump where he is talking to Jenny's grave,
and I turned around
and the entire crew was
like crying behind the camera.
So it's there... it's there, and it's really real.
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood.
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Please won't you be
A perfect coincidence arose
when Tom portrayed the role of Fred Rogers in
"A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood."
The role had Tom apprehensive at first,
as Mr. Rogers was a very public figure
and would need a strong performance
to bring his gentle persona back to the screen.
As it happened, this came naturally to Tom,
who later found out he was related to Fred,
the two men being sixth cousins,
sharing the same five-times distant grandfather
who immigrated to America
from Germany in the 18th century.
- There's a thing that has just never changed for me...
when I was, uh, in... in university
and I didn't know that there was such a thing
as being an actor for a living, I just thought,
you know, "that's only for like movie stars"
or something like that.
But then when I started going to the theater,
I'd be watching anything from Shakespeare
to Eugene O'Neill, to... to any of the great plays
and I just thought...
I had this great yearning just to be a part of it,
just to be part of being somebody else
and saying this very specific dialogue
and being part of this great... this great story.
And when I started studying the theater, you know,
by accident I guess,
there was just no life like it.
Surprisingly, this wasn't, Tom's only known ancestor.
Hanks had known from a young age
that he was also a distant cousin
of not only the former President Abraham Lincoln,
but also Walt Disney,
who Tom depicted in the film, "Saving Mr. Banks" in 2013.
- Never ever just marry.
Now where is Mr. Disney?
- She's here!
- Well, Pamela Travers,
you can't imagine how excited I am to finally meet you.
- Would you mind? My name is Mrs. Travers, Mr. Disney.
Chris with GMA Philippines, my question to you is,
you, Keanu Reeves,
there's a handful of Hollywood actors and actresses
that everybody seems to love.
How have you weaved through all these years
in a career in Hollywood
and not gotten many people pissed off at you?
And no scandals, all that?
- Well, you know, I... I... I don't know.
It's not a... it's not a...
it's not a... it's not an agenda.
There's no strategy to it.
I will just say this
and I... I have worked briefly with Keanu,
he has a wonderful answer to those questions.
Why... what is it like being...
how is it to be so well-regarded, well-liked?
And he always says,
"well, it's preferable to the alternative,"
which is true.
I'd rather be, you know, appreciated than loathed.
That's just me.
But I will say that years and years ago... when I...
when I realized that being an actor was a thing,
a job, a craft, a pursuit you could have,
I didn't think there was be anything
that could possibly be more fun.
Unfortunately,
Tom and his wife Rita were
struck with the coronavirus
during the 2020 pandemic.
Though many worried for his health,
he would reassure the public of his wellbeing.
Opting to make good of the situation,
he and his wife donated their blood
for the research against the virus.
- Take your theraflu.
Don't... don't get what I have.
I had two... half my household had the other flu.
You know, that comes out both ways.
I got lucky. I just had a horrible cold.
Making a hasty comeback,
Tom appeared on Saturday Night Live,
finding his footing once more
in the world of stage performance.
Thank you so much!
Though he has aged,
not once has Tom Hanks taken a break from acting.
Instead,
taking on as much work as
possible to entertain the public
and experience new characters.
Um, and how was Tom?
How did Tom fair next to you in the cockpit?
- He did okay.
(laughs)
He did badly?
- No, I'm kidding.
He's awesome.
Tom's one of our big boys.
He's given us such great performances.
He's an awesome person.
It was a pleasure and a privilege to be next to him
in this movie.
I think he gives a great performance.
I was in awe of him.
And same thing with Clint.
I mean, we're working with really good people here.
People that I've admired my whole life.
What are we gonna do?
- We'll bring hell down from on high.
From "Greyhound" to "Finch,"
Tom would find himself
starring in Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis"
in 2022.
Shortly after, he made an appearance as Geppetto
in Disney's live-action iteration of "Pinocchio."
In 2023, Tom has made a statement
starring in "A Man Called Otto,"
a very rare occasion,
he would play a grumpy, downtrodden character
in order to break his own conventions.
Following this, Tom would
collaborate with Wes Anderson
for the first time in his career,
starring in "Asteroid City,"
a casting Tom would no doubt suit
thanks to his ongoing
advocation for space research.
So you played in so many movies,
which one of them is your favorite?
- Oh, that's impossible to say.
They... all of them were... all of them were magical.
You have to...
you have to separate out the
experience of making the movie
and the way it is taken in by the marketplace.
They do not... they do not correlate.
I've made... I've made movies that were uncomfortable
and just fun enough and they've done well,
and I've made movies that I've loved every second of it,
and they come out and our...
the audience seems to be perhaps confused by them.
I will say this though, however,
I have never ever regretted
being part of an ensemble
or the adventure that a... that
a movie movie comes along.
I... I must say one of the great things
is you can always, you can always say, well, you know,
they didn't get it in the United States, but man,
are we crushing it in eastern Europe?
They love our movie in Eastern Europe!
It's playing great.
So that's a good... that's a good thing to know.
To travel from one place to another,
from one personality to the next.
The life of an actor is a hardship.
From pure consistency, versatility, and durability.
Tom Hanks has faced hardship head-on
and not once has stopped for a break.
He has brought warmth
to the hearts of millions around the world
with his dynamic powerhouse performances
known by adults and children alike.
From humble beginnings
to becoming one of the
greatest actors of the modern day,
What makes the world love
this gentle nomad of the arts
isn't just his ability to
accommodate the extraordinary,
but also to be completely and utterly ordinary.
(orchestra music)