T. Hanks for the Memories:Tom's Real-Life Roles Quiz

Answer: Miracle on the Hudson

"Sully" (2016), called "Sully, Miracle on the Hudson" in the UK has Tom Hanks playing Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger, a real-life hero who was a US Airways pilot who, in 2009, had to ditch his A320 airliner in the Hudson River shortly after takeoff due to bird strike taking out both engines of the plane. All 155 passengers and crew were saved.

The movie covers the ditching and the subsequent investigation. The movie was directed by Clint Eastwood (His first with Mr Hanks but his third with Laura Linney who plays Sully's wife in the movie). Mr Hanks, who has made a career out of playing ordinary men who became heroes, said the most difficult part of playing the role was having his hair coloured white to match the real Sully's hair colour. Mr Hanks and Mr Sullenberger spent a lot of time together to enable the actor to play the pilot. The real life Sully was impressed with Mr Hanks' portrayal of himself and the two have remained friends.

Answer: No

At the end of "Philadelphia" (1993), the following appears in the end credits:- "This motion picture was inspired in part by Geoffrey Bowers' AIDS discrimination lawsuit, the courage and love of the Angius family and the struggles of the many others who, along with their loved ones, have experienced discrimination because of AIDS".

This movie was the story of Andrew Becket, a gay Philadelphia lawyer who was fired for incompetence after he shows visible signs of HIV infection on his face. He sued his law firm for wrongful dismissal. It is initially homophobic Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) who defends him. There is a long court case, but Mr Beckett wins. He is in poor health and dies soon after the verdict. Andrew was a fictional character. However Geoffrey Bowers' family sued the film's producers. They stated that in 54 scenes, they were so similar to Geoffrey's life that these scenes could only have come from the family interviews. The producers then added the above acknowledgement to the credits. There are also similarities in the story to Clarence B. Cain who was an attorney for Hyatt Legal Services. Mr Cain was fired after his HLS discovered out he had AIDS. in 1990 Mr Cain sued Hyatt and won. He too died shortly thereafter. There is a theory that Andrew Beckett is an amalgamation of these two men, though the producers have never confirmed this.

This portrayal gave Tom Hanks his first Oscar for Best Actor.

Answer: Astronaut

Tom Hanks has always had a deep interest in space exploration so when a script was being passed around in 1994 based on Astronaut Jim Lovell's book ("Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13") about a fateful trip to the moon in 1970, Tom Hanks jumped at the chance to play a role and was thrilled to be given the plumb role of Apollo 13 module commander, Jim Lovell.

This was a gripping movie filled with tension (despite all of us knowing how it ended) made better with a well crafted acting ensemble which included, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton and Ed Harris. Nominated for seven Oscars, winning two, Mr Hanks was not nominated for Best Actor, (he won the previous two years) which might have been unfair anyway as this was an ensemble movie and all the leads played very, very well.

(All other answer options are occupations of fictional roles Mr Hanks has portrayed. See if you can work out in which movies they belong. Assistance offered if you get stuck.)

Answer: Ship

In what must have been one of the largest Oscar snubs in history, Tom Hanks was not even nominated for his role as Captain Richard Phillips in "Captain Phillips" whose American container ship, "MV Maersk Alabama" was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009 (Ironically Barkhad Abdi who played the lead pirate role, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor).

In the film going public's eyes, if you ever disputed the acting credentials of Tom Hanks, do yourself a favour and witness the closing scenes of this movie when Mr Hanks as Captain Phillips interacts with a paramedic (who is a paramedic not an actor). Mr Hanks almost carries the entire movie with the possible exception of Oscar nominated Mr Abdi.

Answer: Carl Hanratty, the FBI agent pursuing Abignale

It is rare for Tom Hanks to get second billing but in 2002's "Catch Me If You Can", Leonardo DiCaprio played the lead, Frank Abignale Jr. He was a notorious conman who posed as an airline pilot, a lawyer and and a paediatrician, some of whom are featured in the movie, which is essentially a chase, with Abignale taunting the FBI with "Catch Me If You Can". Mr Hanks' character, Carl Hanratty is based on FBI agent Joseph Shea.

In an early script, Mr Hanks' role was originally called Joseph Shea but it is not clear why the name was changed to a fictional one.

In early casting this character was meant to be played by James Gandolfini but when Steven Spielberg came on as producer, Mr Hanks got the nod. The major departure in the movie is that Christopher Walken plays a large supporting role as Frank's father.

In real life, Frank never saw his father again after he ran away from home in his early teens.

Answer: No

"Saving Private Ryan " was one of the most acclaimed movies of the '90s. At the time of its release, the re-enactment of the landings on Omaha Beach on June 6 1944 were supposed to be the most realistic WWII scenes ever shot on film. The subsequent story is Captain Miller (Mr Hanks) with a small group of men who had to go behind enemy lines to bring back the only surviving son in one family. The story is based loosely on the Niland Brothers - four brothers in one family with three reported as dead so there was a similar raid to find Frederick the fourth son and bring him back to the States (Later one of the brothers reported dead was found alive in a Japanese POW camp). Captain Miller and his small group were not based on real people.

The movie was nominated for 11 Oscars winning five. There was criticism directed at the Academy as it judged "Shakespeare in Love" to be best picture when Mr Spielberg won Best Director. Mr Hanks was nominated as Best Actor but unlike his previous two nominations did not win this time.

Answer: Charlie Wilson / Larry Crowne

"Charlie Wilson's War" (2007) and "Larry Crowne" (2011) were eponymous movies starring both Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. In both cases Tom Hanks had the naming role. "Charlie Wilson's War" was a successful comedy-drama based on Congressman Charlie Wilson legislating to aid the Afghanistan mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan War. In "Larry Crowne", Mr Hanks plays a middle aged man who is laid off from his job so goes to community college where he has a jaded teacher played by Ms Roberts. The readjustment of Larry Crowne to his new life and the revitalisation of his teacher are a joy to watch. Surprisingly, it did not do that well at the box office. "Larry Crowne" is based on the life of Jim Chandler, a friend of Mr Hanks.

Other Roles:
"Sleepless in Seattle" (1993) Sam Baldwin, architect
"You've Got Mail" (1998) Joe Fox, newspaper writer
"The Green Mile" (1999) Paul Edgecomb, Prison Warder
"Cast Away" (2000) Chuck Noland, FedEx systems engineer
"Road to Perdition" (2002) Michael Sullivan, Gangster
"Da Vinci Code" franchise (2016) Robert Langdon, university professor

Answer: Lawyer

"Bridge of Spies" is a legal period thriller set in the Cold War in 1960 in a divided Germany and in New York City. James Donovan, a lawyer (Tom Hanks) is charged with the stewardship of the exchange of a Russian spy for a US pilot. The exchange takes place on a bridge between Berlin and Potsdam. Mr Hanks as usual play the consummate professional. One apparent anomaly is that Mr Donovan is represented in this movie as a private practice attorney with little apparent connection with the US government.

However in WWII Mr Donovan served as the general counsel of the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA. One wonders if this pertinent fact was omitted to project the "Joe Everyman" persona of Tom Hanks. Nevertheless, this was an exceptionally well crafted movie.

Answer: The 9/11 disaster

"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" is about an 11 year old boy with Asperger's Syndrome whose father (Tom Hanks) died in 9/11 and how he came to terms with this. At times, both poignant and implausible, the viewer only ever see Mr Hanks in flashbacks.

The boy's Mom, played by Sandra Bullock puts in an unusually underplayed performance from someone who is consumed by grief and has little opportunity to showcase her acting talents. Mr Hanks plays a good role, encouraging his son to overcome his social difficulties with incredibly prepared quests for his son to undertake.

The consensus from movie reviewers was that this was neither a "good" tribute to 9/11 nor an accurate depiction of someone who has Asperger's Syndrome.

Answer: The Terminal

"The Terminal" (2004) is based on the story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian who became stateless. He lived in Terminal 1 of Paris;Charles de Gaulle Airport for 16 years from 1988 to 2006 until he became ill and was hospitalised.
In 2003 DreamWorks paid US$250,000 to Mr Nasseri for the rights to his story but director Steven Spielberg did not use his story. The location changed to New York City's JFK Airport. Mr Nasseri became Viktor Navorski played by Tom Hanks. In this movie he could not enter the US because of unacceptable documentation but could not return to his native (fictional) Krakozhia because of a military coup.
The characterisation Mr Hanks used was based on his wife's (Rita Wilson) father-in-law who was a Bulgarian immigrant. Once again Mr Hanks receives another string to his bow, as he pulls off a creditable Eastern European accent. Another notable feature of the movie is the giant terminal set created in a hangar at LA/Palmdale regional Airport as no airport was found that could accommodate the filming requirements.
The other three movies are all Tom Hanks' movies that feature air travel ("Apollo 13" is actually about space travel) but in the remaining two movies, Mr Hanks plays fictional characters.