Are There Any Nice Guys Out There?

Tom Hanks

c/o Creative Artists Agency

9830 Wilshire Blvd.

Beverly Hills, Calif. 90212

Dear Tom:

So I see in the paper where you grew a beard this summer so people would quit calling you nice.

I understand. As praise goes, nice is rather faint. Indeed, to many people it’s a code for bland and unexciting. And then there’s that whole business about finishing last.

We don’t seem to think much of Nice Guys, do we?

Back when I was a celebrity interviewer, I hated Nice Guys. Give me an idiosyncratic “artiste” who alienates everyone around him and I was profoundly fascinated. Give me a brooding genius with a troubled soul and I was deeply intrigued.

Give me a Nice Guy, though, and I panicked. What do you do with “nice”?

But Tom, the older I get, the less patience I have for “artistes” and brooders. The more I appreciate Nice Guys.

Nice Guys are down to earth, centered and not especially impressed with themselves. Nice Guys tend toward simple values. They are the difference between white and “eggshell,” blue and “desert sky.” Nice Guys are fun to be around because there is no meanness in their humor. If I were ever in trouble - mugged, stranded, injured - I’d want a Nice Guy to come to my aid. Nice Guys are not perfect, but they strive to know the right thing and do it even when it’s difficult or involves personal sacrifice. As a result, there is a genuineness, a “likability” about Nice Guys that is hard to define and harder to resist. They are, in a word, decent.

I wish you luck with the beard thing, but I suspect you won’t find what you seek in facial follicles. One cannot escape who he is. And you are either a Nice Guy or else an infinitely better actor than even your Academy Awards would indicate.

The same goes for Ron Howard and Tim Allen. Jimmy Stewart belongs in The Nice Guy Hall of Fame. Singer Jon Bon Jovi seems a Nice Guy, as do NBA stars David Robinson and Grant Hill. Nor are all Nice Guys guys. Gladys Knight and Katie Couric are two of the nicest guys around.

I agree that “nice” doesn’t exactly set the heart ablaze. But I wish we had a few more Nice Guys in this country right now.

I wish President Clinton were a Nice Guy instead of a Cowardly Lion. Nice Guys don’t need spin doctors to tell them what they believe in.

I wish Newt Gingrich were a Nice Guy instead of a pit bull. Nice Guys don’t think you have to divide people in order to lead them.

I wish rock star Eddie Vedder were a Nice Guy instead of a crybaby whining about the burden of fame while doing everything possible to maintain it. Nice Guys are not hypocrites.

What Nice Guys are is a reminder of the values we once trumpeted, proclaimed, exalted and sometimes - though “only” sometimes - lived. It’s a telling indictment that in the ‘90s, Nice Guys do, indeed, finish last, behind Tough Guys, Dumb Guys, Angry Guys, Irreverent Guys and a few certifiably Mad Guys.

It seems that at some point the very idea of nice became too corny for the terminally hip to stomach.

Truthfully and cynically, I don’t know if you are the aw-shucks good guy you seem to be. But I “want” you to be. I don’t think I’m alone in that; whether you know it or not, a good part of your appeal has nothing to do with acting.

It’s something to think about as you prune your beard. We like you because you are not Sean Penn, Courtney Love, Beavis or Butt-head. We like you because you remind us of the values of a less mendacious age. And we like you because you prove to us that not everything is crazy nor everyone mean, even though it sometimes seems that way.

You’re a Nice Guy, Tom. The way I see it, that’s pretty high praise.

xxxx