Tom Hanks Tears: Broadway Debut in 'Lucky Guy' Marks Emotional Moment (VIDEO)
Tom Hanks shed tears at his Broadway debut on Monday night, at the opening night of "Lucky Guy."
The Hollywood actor explained that it was both a happy and sad occasion for him, as he remembered his longtime friend, writer Nora Ephron, who passed away last year and who penned the play.
Hanks played the late New York Post and Daily News columnist Mike McAlary in the play at the Broadhurst Theatre on Monday night.
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At the end of the night Hanks was given a standing ovation for his performance and he was visibly moved to tears by the whole occasion. He told the New York Post afterwards, "That was a tough moment. We were going to do this, and Nora and [show director] George C. Wolfe were going to walk out onstage. I miss her. What more can you say?"
Ephron died in Manhattan, New York last year aged 71, after losing her battle to leukemia.
Hanks said after the performance, "Nora was just a magnificent hang . . . You could be working, and you could be talking about personal things, you could be on vacation and talking about cultural history, you could be having a very lazy breakfast and you would be talking about Saddam Hussein. Nora was . . . fascinated by everything.
"She was always doing things that were so interesting. She told me, 'Never turn down a front-row seat for human folly'," he added.
Hanks also mentioned how playing his character in the Broadway show had helped him appreciate the journalism business more: "I kinda get it now . . . There was a time when if you were on Page Six, your life was hell for an easy week and a half, but now if you are on Page Six, it might embarrass you a little bit . . . but I am not one of the Kardashians, so I am not getting in your way...Now I get it as an art form. I get it as a job that really does somehow serve the pulse in the city," according to the NY Post.
Here is a video report on Tom Hanks' Broadway debut in the "Lucky Guy":
