This week’s “What They’re Reading” is about one of our favorite actors Tom Hanks. It’s awards season, and although he’s not nominated for anything, he is just one of those iconic actors whose movies we love. His favorite book is Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. In Cold Blood has been a newsworthy item as of late, as it was recently discovered that the story that Truman painted as absolutely factual was, according to newly discovered FBI records, more embellished than originally believed. Evidence is still coming to light, on what was true in the case and what was not, but the book still tells the chilling tale of a very true murder in a small Kansas town.
On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. Five years, four months and twenty-nine days later, on April 14, 1965, Richard Eugene Hickock, aged thirty-three, and Perry Edward Smith, aged thirty-six, were hanged from the crime on a gallows in a warehouse in the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing, Kansa.In Cold Blood is the story of the lives and deaths of these six people. The detached yet penetrating account of the savage and senseless murder of a family has been hailed as a masterpiece.
Tom Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks is known for his roles in Apollo 13, Big, That Thing You Do!, The Green Mile, You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, A League of Their Own, The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, as well as animated films like the Toy Story film series and The Polar Express.
He has earned and been nominated for numerous awards during his career, including winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia and a Golden Globe, an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a People’s Choice Award for Best Actor for his role in Forrest Gump, and earning the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film from the BAFTAs. Hanks is also known for his collaboration with film director Steven Spielberg on Saving Private Ryan and the mini-series Band of Brothers, which launched Hanks also as a successful director, producer and writer.
As of 2012, Hanks’ films have grossed over $4.2 billion at the United States box office alone, and over $8.5 billion worldwide making him the highest all-time box office star.
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