Summary

• Amos Mefford Hanks witnessed his father's tragic murder, leaving a lifelong impact on him and Tom Hanks.
• Tom Hanks bonded with his father while working on the film "Nothing in Common," drawing from their own experiences.
• Despite the tragedy, Amos got to see Tom Hanks become a successful actor and attend the Academy Awards with him.

The decades-spanning career of Tom Hanks may go down as one of Hollywood's greatest success stories. Hanks started acting professionally in 1980 with an appearance on The Love Boat and a small role in the slasher He Knows You're Alone. It would only be a few short years until he broke into the mainstream with Splash in 1983 and, from there, his career took off like a rocket ship.

An awards darling, Tom Hanks has earned six Oscar nominations with two wins and was the recipient of the Golden Globes' Cecil B. Demille Award. The list of Tom Hanks' movies that bombed may be of more interest at this point, considering how rare it is that one of his productions fails. Tom's father, Amos Mefford Hanks, grew up on a farm in Willow, California, about a seven-hour drive north of LA where Tom and his wife Rita Wilson have lived for many years. Amos had a tragic past that Tom was always keenly privy to.

Amos Mefford Hanks Witnessed His Father Being Killed By A Hired Farm Hand

Tom Hanks Says The Event Ruined His Father's Life

In an interview with In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Tom Hanks opened up about his father. He told a story,

"Well, my dad got a raw deal. When he was a very young man because he happened to witness the murder of his father in a fight. He was 8 or 9 or 10 years old, and a hired hand killed his father in the barn of the farm that they were growing up in Willows, California. He was one of four kids and he was the only one there. And he was broken by that experience. He had to go and testify as a kid three times. With the lawyers, and the judge, and the flag 'Do you hereby solemnly swear?' It was a contentious fight, the man was acquitted because it was a fight. But his father was killed and he witnessed that."

The way Tom describes it, it sounds like it was a completely senseless killing that would have been hard for the young Amos Mefford Hanks to fully comprehend, let alone witness, and it likely informed Amos and Tom's relationship. Tom even says it thoroughly changed his father,

"It ruined him. It robbed him of a carefree life, it robbed him of a sense of fairness in the world. It was just a black mark of injustice and unfairness that landed squarely on his very young shoulders. It wasn't right."

Tom speaks in both sympathetic and almost iring tones while he says this. He cares deeply for his father and is deeply saddened by what Amos had to go through, and that he never got to fulfill his dreams of becoming a writer, but he's also immensely proud of his dad. Part of that pride is associated with this event, and it feels like Tom is awed by his father's ability to carry on despite shouldering this immense burden.

Tom Hanks Bonded With His Father When He Filmed Nothing In Common

Hanks' Relationship With Jackie Gleason Had Some Similarities to Hanks' Relationship With His Father

Tom Hanks had the chance to bond closely with his father over his work when he prepared for Nothing in Common. In the film, Tom must care for his divorced and bitter father, played by Jackie Gleason. When asked if his role as David Basner had anything to do with his relationship with his father, Tom responded,

"I told my dad at some point, said, 'Look, Dad, I'm doing this movie with Jackie Gleason, and he's playing a guy who's sick, and you were sick. He's got diabetes, and you've got no kidneys, You know there's a lot of you and me in this movie. I just want you to know that before you see it.' And I think he appreciated it and that there was a place for common ground, and it turned out to be in a movie called Nothing in Common."

Tom drew from his own life for the role and had the chance to talk to his father about their relationship. In response to being asked if he tried to have difficult conversations with his Dad,

"You know I didn't burden my dad in that way. I didn't say, 'Come on Dad, what's the scoop.' But what I did do was I listened for whatever would come out. Say, the stories of him growing up, not so much about the loss of his dad, but growing up on a farm and the type of labor that he did."

Tom used the opportunity to get to know his father on Amos' , not to pry into a history that he likely did not want to get into.

Tom's son Colin is also an actor and his other son Chet is a professional musician and actor.

Amos Mefford Hanks Died On January 31, 1992, At The Age Of 67

Amos Got To Attend The Academy Awards When His Son Was Nominated

Amos Mefford Hanks ed away on January 31, 1992, at the age of 67. While he may have missed a large portion of his son's career, he still saw Tom become one of the biggest actors in the world. Tom talks about what Amos got to see of his son's success,

"I got the TV show I was on Blizzard Buddies. He got to see me every week and then later on, when I was able to get the films. And the first time when I was nominated for Big in the Academy Awards, he and my stepmom came down. We all went together, so he got to go to the broadcast. So he was able to take in this grander aspect of his kid making good enough headway in a realm that was completely alien to him."

Tom's father was a ive figure, as he was just happy for his son. Back in 1992, there was no social media to post messages about friends and family who ed away, but had there been, Tom Hanks surely would have paid great tribute to his father, the same way he paid tribute to his mother, Janet Marylyn Frager, on Instagram when she ed away in 2016.

Tom Hanks clearly has fond memories of his dad and family, suggesting that despite the tragedy he witnessed, Amos Mefford Hanks was able, in some fashion, to move on from the experience and still know the joys of life, thanks in part to his son.