The first TV series that blew Tom Hanks’ mind: “I could not believe”
Out of all the actors that emerged during the latter decades of the 20th century, few had such a widespread impact as Tom Hanks. His star status was cemented from the early years of his career, in which he appeared in movies like Splash and Big, endearing audiences with his charming performances.
By the end of the 1980s, Hanks was a regular fixture in various comedies like Dragnet, Turner and Hooch, and The ‘Burbs. It didn’t take long for him to become an inescapable figure in Hollywood, appearing in Oscar-winning movies like Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.
The latter truly asserted him as an American household name and beloved actor, a title he maintained as he appeared in movies like the Toy Story franchise, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail, and earned more intensive roles in films like Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile and Catch Me If You Can.
While Hanks is best known as a movie star, he has appeared in a few television shows, too. In fact, one of his first ever acting roles was in the series The Love Boat, before he then became a regular member of the show Bosom Buddies, appearing in almost 40 episodes. He also co-created the show Band of Brothers with Steven Spielberg, directing and writing some of the episodes.
Television might not be as highly regarded as cinema to some, but most of us can name television shows that greatly impacted us growing up. It’s often how we’re first introduced to the magic of moving images, and for Hanks, his exposure to Disney at a young age forever changed him.
The actor instantly fell in love with what he saw on screen as a child, telling NPR, “Well at the time that it really mattered, it was Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. And we did not have a color television set until much later than everybody else did, and so I remember where I was. My parents had taken me to some friends of theirs, and I was relegated to the downstairs rec room.”
He added, “And I had at my disposal, on a Sunday night, a colour television, and saw for the first time Tinkerbell come out and go ‘dink, dink, dink’ with those fireworks. And it was blue and red — I thought it was magical. I could not believe.”
Hanks got to play Walt Disney in the 2013 movie Saving Mr Banks, bringing to life a figure who shaped his childhood. Remembering his experience of watching Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, he continued, “And then what kicked in? A song by Richard and Robert Sherman: ‘The world is a carousel of color, wonderful, wonderful colour.’ And so it was a staple of Sunday nights.”
Since then, Hanks has appeared in several movies for Walt Disney Pictures, with the most notable being Toy Story, a classic children’s movie full of wonder. “It was magical to sit and watch Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color,” Hanks recalled – something he surely kept in mind when starring in children’s movies as an adult.
