The curly-haired toddler in the back-and-white photograph about to blow out a single candle on a birthday cake in the late ’50s was oblivious to the fact that it would likely be one of the few birthdays with both his parents.
By the time he turned ten, he had three maternal figures in his life, his biological mother and two stepmothers, and lived in nearly a dozen different houses in five cities.His parents fell in love at work. After his dad exited the Navy, he worked at a coffee shop in Berkley, California, where he met a “cute waitress.” They had four children in their union of 11–odd years. The curly-haired toddler was the second youngest.
By the time they had their youngest son, the pair realized they did not share much in common. The couple “pioneered the marriage dissolution laws” for California when this boy was five.The toddler went with his dad, older brother, and sister, while his newly born youngest sibling remained with his mother, who could not afford to take all the children.
During his parents’ breakup, no one explained what happened to him or his siblings and that it was not their fault. With his dad in the restaurant industry, they would move homes and cities within a few hour’s notice of a new job.
He had very little adult supervision in his youth, though he always had a key to their home and the freedom to drink all the milk he wanted from the fridge.
Young Tom Hanks. pic.twitter.com/XZ5H2k2esq
— History Photographed (@HistoryInPics) October 22, 2015
The actor and his elder brother and sister would tell time from what was playing on television. He explained in September 2020 on the “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” podcast:
“Maybe there was a degree of loneliness […] I kind of fell through the cracks and didn’t really have adults per se that were taking care of me.”
To this day, the actor cannot stand tomato soup. He and his siblings were tasked with making their own lunch and dinner. Heating a can of Campbell’s soup often led to the pot boiling over, and the smell of “burnt tomato soup” lingered.
He would have to scrub the stovetop with steel wool to clean the mess before his dad got home. The star quipped that it was good that there were no smoke alarms in apartment buildings in those days, as they would have set it off every third day.The toddler in the picture is none other than Tom Hanks. In October 2002, an Entertainment Weekly poll found Hanks to be the most powerful person in Hollywood. On the list, he was followed by Steven Spielberg, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, and Julia Roberts.
Hanks’ love for movies started at a young age when he would go to the cinema. He considers the education he got by going alone “priceless,” as he took it all in with no one else to engage with.
Through his quest to join activities to get out of the house, from track and soccer to a church youth group, he would discover the theater program at Skyline High School in Oakland, California. His drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth greatly impacted his development as an actor….CONTINUE READING