Tom Hanks‘ wavy mullet was something of an obsession for the actor as he embarked on the first installment in the “Da Vinci Code” series. In honor of the film’s 10-year anniversary, take a look back at the Oscar winner’s coif chronology.
When Hanks wasn’t showing off his real brown locks on the early 1980s sitcom “Bosom Buddies,” he donned a woman’s wig during his cross-dressing scenes with co-star Peter Scolari. (The ABC show revolved around two bachelors who dress as women in order to secure an affordable apartment.)
Hanks’ hair is his thing, dating back to his breakout film role in the hit 1984 romantic comedy “Splash.” Just look at how Daryl Hannah (who played the mermaid Madison) is combing her fingers through it!
Apparently studio execs were banking on Hanks’ curly mop: This publicity photo for the raunchy 1984 comedy “Bachelor Party” has another woman running her fingers through his locks.
Hanks’ hair seemed to reach peak condition in the hit 1988 Penny Marshall comedy “Big.”
Hanks’ hair was slicked back in some scenes for the 1990 dramatic comedy “The Bonfire of the Vanities.”
Hanks played a lawyer afflicted with HIV-AIDS in the 1993 drama “Philadelphia,” for which he won his first Academy Award. And yes, his hair reflected such as he depicted various stages of his character’s illness in the film.
Hanks wore his hair closely cropped during most of 1994’s “Forrest Gump,” which won six Oscars, including the actor’s second win in the Best Actor category.
But he also wore a long-haired look, complete with impenetrable beard, during the the film’s famous running sequence set in the 1970s.
Who can forget Hanks’ blonde permed look in the 2000 drama “Castaway” (in which he re-teamed with Zemeckis)?
His hair was styled quite fancifully in the 2004 Coen Brothers comedy “The Ladykillers.”
To achieve the perfect coiffure for “The Da Vinci Code,” Hanks thought really hard about it: “[I wanted it] fuller in the back and falling down across my forehead,” he shared in a 2006 interview. “But the truth is my hair cannot be long and flowing — genetically, it doesn’t do that. It’s a bush… We talked about a wig, but that ends up taking a huge amount of time. So I went to these guys who know about hair chemistry and found a way.” Science.
And the winner for most styles worn by Hanks in a single movie goes to: 2012’s “Cloud Atlas.”
When Hanks reprised his “Da Vinci” role as Robert Langdon for a third time in “Inferno” (in theaters Oct. 28), he ditched the party in the back, opting for a smoothed-out, shorter version. Good choice.
