Emotional Tom Hanks reflects on glittering career during Golden Globes speech

An emotional Tom Hanks reflected on his glittering career as he was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes.

Hanks, one of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood history, was the latest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award and broke down on stage.

During his acceptance speech the star of films including Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, Cast Away and A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood thanked his wife, Rita Wilson, and his children who were seated in the audience.

He then paid tribute to the actors he has worked with throughout his career.

“You’re a dope if you don’t steal from everybody you’ve ever worked with,” Hanks, who was nursing a cold, said.

“And I have stolen from the likes of the people that only need one name, like Meryl, like Denzel, like Antonio, like Meg, like Julia, like Sally Field — even though that’s two names, it’s still one.

“But I have also been made better by watching the examples of some of the greatest actors that have ever walked the stage.”

Hanks, 63, also thanked the directors and screenwriters he has worked with, saying he has “never not been challenged or flummoxed or lost sleep” by what they have asked him to do.

He told the star-studded audience inside the Beverly Hilton hotel the best advice he was given as a young actor: show up on time, know the text and have ideas.

Hanks, who went viral for the facial expression he made in reaction to one of Ricky Gervais’s jokes, added: “There is a saying in motion pictures, back when it was shot on film, that you could not move on to the next scene until the gate was good.

“Thank you, HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association). Thank you all here. Thank you for all your inspiration and all of your work and all the struggle that you guys go through in order to hit the marks and tell the truth. I have checked the gate. The gate is good. Thank you.”