Tom Hanks Kennedy Center Honors 2014

thank you [Applause] thank you so much [Applause] not yet I've known Tom for a long long time he and I met by chance Hollywood California we were kids tom was auditioning for a little something called bosom buddies I was auditioning for a little something called menudo and pretty much our careers have been the same for since you know I get to see Tom in every movie he's made and then I get the good fortune of sitting next to him as a guest on the show for 10 or 15 minutes and both are enjoyable both are delightful and I've always maintained that his success was because he's Tom Hanks he's Tom Hanks up there he's Tom Hanks right there and I came up with the thing and maybe everybody else has thought of this but if you haven't talked it over on your way home you take the tea out of Tom you put it up next to Hanks what do you get you see where I'm going and so about all I can say here tonight thanks we love you [Applause] hey I got an idea let's go to the movies [Music] let's go and experience how the human condition can be captured by this amalgam of light and sound and literature we call the cinema what a great job see when you work in the movies part of you gets to live forever by the time he was 10 he had lived in 10 different houses in five cities and had three different stepmothers I'm felt at home everywhere then he found the place he really belonged act well the part his teacher told him there all the glory lies then they told me I could do this for a living [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he had been the boy of our youth okay under control then he was the man of her dreams shall we [Music] but he turned away from roles where he was easy to love to slip into the skin of an unwanted man subsequent decisions have held that aids is protected as a handicap under law not only because of physical limitations it imposes but because the prejudice surrounding aids exacts a social death which proceed [Music] which precedes the actual physical one [Music] so our job is to hold the mirror up to nature we must be constantly examining who we are how we got here how we're getting through all this gentlemen it's been a privilege flying with you it's a most beautiful thing I've ever seen [Music] this is a smile he's very smart he's one of the smartest in his class [Music] are you okay cuz you don't look okay are you in any pain right now are you in any pain right now right there on your side okay let me see it really quick can you lift up your arm a little bit does that hurt a little bit this is what we storytellers do we store ordered with imagination we instill hope again and again and again Tom says that movies are the record of our times a way to discover the truth of another person someone a lot like us [Music] [Applause] [Music] coming up in Martin Short Steven Spielberg and an honors salute to our troops the ladies and gentlemen 2006 Kennedy Center honoree Steven Spielberg [Music] Tom Hanks understood the power of the movies from a very early age he's an artist of the highest caliber whose brilliance is exceeded only by his modesty and Tom's art comes completely from his heart there's a never-ending supply of trust between audiences and Tom and with this trust like great artists and movie stars of the past he has opened a window on the world and a window on our nation and through his miniseries and documentaries he has celebrated our history and has shown us the nobility of our men and women in uniform so as we gather here together in this hallowed Hall a monument to the Arts in America I can't help but think of the final words of Captain John Miller in Saving Private Ryan earn this earn this Tom you have earned this congratulations [Music] ladies and gentlemen Martin Short tonight is a special night in Washington it certainly isn't about Democrats and Republicans not getting along we have the rest of eternity to talk about that but it's about honoring my dear friend of over 25 years Tom Hank Tom is the essence of America especially when he gains 50 pounds for a role but tom is just like everyone else his pants are put on him one leg at a time he's also a music lover particularly the music in the 60s in 1996 he wrote and directed the story of a boy band with big dreams and skinny ties who rose to stardom on a catchy song that's really here for catatonics [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Music] this last year Tom also became a Broadway star nothing was more impressive than when I saw him in Nora Ephron's lucky guy I was so mesmerized I remember that ten minutes into his performance I whispered into my phone I have to call I think of the great men Tom has co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio Paul Newman Matt Damon Denzel Washington and of course hooch you look fantastic you realize he's a hundred and eighty-seven in dog years what impeccable hindquarters but turn you know isn't just a dog's man or a man's man he's also a ladies man and and I don't mean just because of his long time interest in cross-dressing no no in what we with a strong theatre background like to call irony it was on the set of bosom buddies that he met his beautiful and his talented wife Rita Wilson [Music] and now three dresses we think Tom may want to add to his spring wardrobe modeled by three stars of the Broadway stage ladies and gentlemen Laura Benanti Kelly O'Hara and Justin [Music] [Applause] [Music] may [Music] the way way the way [Music] three of they can't take that away from the way your smile the way you sing the way your heart my [Music] we may never fearow [Music] the way you love your [Music] the key they changed my life [Music] [Applause] [Music] you know there's something about Tom that feels like the very essence of America and it's not just that he owns a big chunk of America though I'm from across the border in Canada I look with admiration at those distinctly American qualities of hope determination and decency that shine through every role he plays everything he touches actually he is everyman and the best of us at the same time you know it's as if well let me just sing about it [Music] you're our Yankee Doodle Dandy you're the star who's just like me the real-life hero that I am inside or the one that I dream I could be you've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart she's your Yankee Doodle joy Yankee Doodle through-and-through you love your art and country you are our Yankee Doodle boy [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's show us [Music] each party babe the truth is a pony won two Oscars and by god you almost won at the home [Music] but this new riding on his ass [Music] [Applause] [Music] I love [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

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Length: 19min 4sec (1144 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 04 2015