“I believe I called him commander”: the legendary actor who left Tom Hanks awestruck
Having been a fixture of the A-list for going on four decades, Tom Hanks is now in a position where his mere presence alone is enough to leave younger actors overwhelmed even being within the vicinity of a star of his magnitude. It comes with the territory, and he’s been in those shoes himself.
Thanks to a body of work comparable to any of the all-time greats, the two-time Academy Award winner and ‘America’s Dad’ is undoubtedly a living legend of the silver screen, not that the famously affable everyman would ever pat himself on the back to such an extensive degree.
It’s true, though, and he’s become an inspiration to countless would-be actors who get into the business dreaming of emulating his career, while he’s also an icon to millions of fans around the world. It takes hard work, plenty of dedication, and no small amount of talent to get there, but even Hanks has found himself reduced to being a childlike fanboy in the presence of his heroes.
Standing across from Paul Newman on the set of Sam Mendes’ Road to Perdition was a pinch-me moment, with Hanks having grown up admiring and idolising somebody he was now able to call a colleague and scene partner. Of course, he had to carry himself with an air of professionalism, but Hanks agrees with a theory as to why even the stars can find themselves starstruck on occasion.
Roger Ebert told him that “no one seems like a real movie star to you unless they were a star when you were still a kid growing up,” with that combination of wish-fulfilment and wide-eyed wonder instantly dragging anyone—regardless of how famous they are—into contact with their inner child.
“The theory is right,” Hanks acknowledged. “Al Pacino in a room, I don’t know what to say to Mr Pacino.”
That wasn’t who bowled him over the most, however, with Hanks revealing that he was so awestruck in the presence of a silver screen legend, the first thing he could bring himself to say was addressing them by the rank of their most famous fictional character.
“Sean Connery, when I first met him, I believe I called him ‘commander,'” Hanks shared. “There’s just no way around it. I think it’s like when you’re a freshman in high school, and the upperclassmen look like they’re 32 years old, and it isn’t until you get up there you realise, ‘What was I thinking?’. We’re all just a bunch of stupid kids.”
Instead of playing it cool during his first encounter with Connery, Hanks couldn’t shake the image of the actor’s James Bond tenure from his mind, opting to refer to him by the designation Ian Fleming’s character carried on both page and screen. It must have been embarrassing, even if it was entirely forgivable when Hanks had grown up watching him.
