Tom Hanks apologised to Connor Ratliff for firing him due to his 'dead eyes'

12 March 2022

Tom Hanks apologised to Connor Ratliff for firing him because of “dead eyes”.

Tom Hanks apologised for saying Connor Ratliff had dead eyes

The ‘Marvelous Mrs Maisel’ star made amends with the 65-year-old actor - who took “full responsibility” - after they discussed the time Conor was let go from the 2001 mini-series ‘Band of Brothers’ for his apparent “dead eyes”, which the Academy Award winner was directing.

Tom - who appeared on podcast ‘Dead Eyes’ on Thursday (10.03.22), which got its name from the episode - said: “This is a bone-chilling story, just bone-chilling,” before taking “full responsibility” for his conduct on set.

The ‘You’ve Got Mail’ star called it “one of those very, very subtle” decisions made as a director.

Tom said: "This was without a doubt the act of the director, and that was me. There was something in stuck in a craw or one of those very, very subtle sort of decisions that aims the story in the direction you want it to go."

He continued: "In the inner sanctum of whatever this casting session was on Band of Brothers ... I'm sure I said, 'I don't know man, that guy's got dead eyes.' I could've said, 'He's got too blond of hair; he's too tall and I can't have the aide be taller than Captain Winters.' I could've said, 'He's too short and slight ... I could've said any of these things, and they would have been true and they would've been the opinion.'”

Connor got how Tom could have forgotten the comment but told him it was “very big” for him in the immediate aftermath after being let go from the show that starred Tom Hardy, Damien Lewis, Jimmy Fallon Michael Fassbender and David Schwimmer.

He added: "I built this thing up so big and then it was just gone."

The ‘Splash’ star - who is married to actress Rita Wilson, 65 - spilled he was “aghast” when he found out about the podcast and how it got its name after hearing about it from his son Colin, 44, and daughter Elizabeth, 39, who are both in the movie business, just like their dad. Along with these two, he also has 31-year-old son Chet and 25-year-old Truman.