Apollo 13 tom hanks imdb biography
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Tom grew up in what he has called a "fractured" family. Hanks remarked: "When I read the script for Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. It was the third-highest-grossing movie of the year, losing to Toy Story and Die Hard with a Vengeance.
Along with fellow astronaut Gordon Fullerton, Haise piloted the space shuttle Enterprise for three of its test flights in 1977.
The following day, President Richard Nixon awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the men, as well as Apollo 13’s Mission Operations Team for their heroic efforts during what has been called “NASA’s finest hour.”
These are the real men behind the famed space mission and hit film:
Commander James “Jim” Lovell Jr.
Portrayed by Tom Hanks
Astronaut Jim Lovell, left, and Tom Hanks portraying Lovell in Apollo 13
With three missions and 572 spaceflight hours of experience to his credit, Lovell was the world’s most traveled astronaut for a time.
There is a moment in the film where he gets into an argument with him, but thanks to Lovell, he breaks that up. He also develops a urinary tract infection, but that won't affect him drastically as they safely reach home.
Ed Harris as White Team Flight Director Gene Kranz
If there is a feared but respected character in the movie, it is Ed Harris's Gene Kranz, who is adamant about bringing his astronauts back home.
Astronaut Jack Swigert, played on the big screen by Kevin Bacon, was actually the one who first sent the famous distress call to Mission Control from the shuttle, saying, “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” (Lovell repeated the phrase when a capsule communicator in Houston asked what Swigert had said.) Other than that slight change of phrase, Apollo 13 was a very real depiction of the perilous outer space journey of three astronauts: Lovell, Swigert, and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton).
Intended to be NASA’s third moon-landing mission, Apollo 13 launched from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970.
Before he could be sworn in, however, Swigert died of bone cancer in December 1982 at age 51.
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The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love over the radio airwaves. The couple had four children: Barbara, James III, Susan, and Jeffrey.Lovell’s role as Apollo 13 commander is one he’s often reflected on over the years.
He moved around a great deal after his parents' divorce, living with a succession of step-families. Beginning his NASA career in 1959 at the Lewis Research Center (now the Glenn Research Center) in Cleveland, the University of Oklahoma graduate acted as a research pilot until he was selected for astronaut training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center in 1966.
Now 91, Haise had been a backup lunar module pilot on Apollo 8 and 11, but his earlier experience proved most useful in calmly helping the Apollo 13 crew survive the aborted lunar-landing mission.
“My biggest emotion on Apollo 13 after the oxygen tank explosion was disappointment that we had lost the landing.
After taking a leave of absence in April 1973 to become the U.S. House of Representatives’ Executive Director of the Committee on Science and Technology, Swigert eventually resigned from both NASA and the congressional committee in August 1977 to officially enter politics.
The broad success with the fantasy-comedy Big (1988) established him as a major Hollywood talent, both as a box office draw and within the film industry as an actor. Ron Howard, director for the movie Apollo 13, commented that it never sounded like we had a problem after listening to all the air-to-ground transmissions.”
He was later assigned to command the Apollo 19 moon mission that NASA ultimately canceled in 1972 following a series of budget cuts.
Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia.
His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry.
Command Module Pilot John “Jack” Swigert Jr.
Portrayed by Kevin Bacon
Astronaut Jack Swigert
Kevin Bacon as astronaut Jack Swigert in Apollo 13
Swigert was a last-minute addition to the Apollo 13 crew, replacing Ken Mattingly, who had been exposed to German measles just 48 hours before the 1970 launch.
In this list, we will see the major actors who appear in the film and made it possible.
Rotten Tomatoes' website consensus also mentions the performances of the actors, which reads:
"In recreating the troubled space mission, Apollo 13 pulls no punches: it's a masterfully told drama from director Ron Howard, bolstered by an ensemble of solid performances."
So, let's dive right into it.
Apollo 13 cast
Tom Hanks as Commander Jim Lovell
Tom Hanks is Jim Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13, and has served as a module pilot of Apollo 8.