Tom Hanks Collects Another Film Honour

The actor was honoured by the Film Society of Lincoln Center`s and revealed he was thrilled with the accolade.

Tom Hanks admitted he is very “fortunate” after collecting another film honour last night (27.04.09).

The ‘Angels and Demons’ actor was honoured by the Film Society of Lincoln Center's at their annual gala tribute evening, and revealed he was thrilled with the accolade.

He said: "I've run out of superlatives. I'm a fortunate man. I'm glad the tribute is not on TV. We can let our hair down."

Hanks and his family were joined for the event, held at the Alice Tully Hall, by guests including Steven Spielberg, Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts, Ron Howard and Sally Field for the ceremony and a celebration dinner.

Charlize paid tribute to the 52-year-old actor – who she starred with in 1996 in ‘That Thing You Do!’ -  saying he had been an inspiration throughout her career.

She gushed: "Besides the fact that I'm a massive fan I feel like I got interested in acting because of him and his work.

“Getting the chance to work with him and getting to know him a little bit made me realise there's something about him that is really genuine and sweet. It shows the nice guy can end up on top.”

Tom - who won Academy Awards for 1993's ‘Philadelphia’ and 1994's ‘Forrest Gump’ – was particularly delighted with the honour because his trophy cabinet is looking bare.

He joked: “Most of my awards are soccer trophies from the kids!"

Previous Film Society honourees include Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Susan Sarandon, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Jane Fonda and Charlie Chaplin.