The one role Tom Hanks hopes nobody will remember: “Made in the greatest faith”
In an industry that feels like one big gamble, actors often take on roles when they’re starting their careers that they come to regret. Perhaps it’s a low-budget movie with a poorly-written script or maybe it’s an episode of a random television show – sometimes, a job is simply a job, especially when you’re trying to break through.
Even the most successful actors will likely admit to appearing in some projects that they’d rather forget existed, like Tom Hanks. He might be one of Hollywood’s finest stars – known for his multiple Oscar wins and his consistent domination of the box-office – but Hanks certainly has some cinematic duds under his belt.
Hanks could be seen in many acclaimed movies during the 1990s, from Forrest Gump to Saving Private Ryan to Toy Story, although his career started in the previous decade, where he made his feature film debut with a role in the slasher movie He Knows You’re Alone.
The movie is quite the outlier in Hanks’ filmography, with horror certainly standing as a genre that the actor strays far away from, but within a few years, he was leading movies like Ron Howard’s Splash and the beloved comedy Big, finding his desired place in Hollywood.
He has repeatedly charmed viewers with his performances, typically playing loveable characters that have endured in cinematic consciousness, like the kind hearted Forrest Gump or the determined attorney in Philadelphia. Many of his performances have lived on for years, and in the future, the actor will certainly be remembered for characters like Woody, Josh Baskin, or Captain John H. Miller.
But which performance would Hanks like people to forget? Luckily, the role that the actor is least proud of is one that very few people will surely remember because it came right at the start of his career. Before Hanks was an established star, he found himself starring in several television shows in an attempt to hone a successful career. Sometimes, small television roles are the only way to get a foot in the door, and it seemed to work for Hanks.
Hanks’ first television role was in The Love Boat, which aired in 1980. Created by Wilford Lloyd Baumes, the ABC show followed guests on a cruise ship as they became involved in various romantic entanglements. He appeared in the episode ‘Friends and Lovers/Sergeant Bull/Miss Mother’ as Rick Martin, but Hanks would prefer people to forget this ever happened.
When asked on Mythical Kitchen to pick a movie he’d like to be remembered for the least, Hanks replied, “Every one of these movies are made in the greatest faith imaginable. Everybody is working really hard. So to slag on any of them is to insult the communal effort that we all put in,” before adding, “Throw up the circular from me on The Love Boat. My head in the circle, I did a love boat in June of 1980.”
So, while Hanks is proud of most of the films he has been a part of, he can’t say the same about some of his early television choices.
