“Bosom Buddies ”Producer Says He Immediately Knew Tom Hanks, Then 24, Would ‘Have a Nice Career’ (Exclusive)
“Bosom Buddies ”Producer Says He Immediately Knew Tom Hanks, Then 24, Would ‘Have a Nice Career’ (Exclusive)
Virginia ChamleeMon, September 7, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC
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Jeff Franklin and Tom HanksCredit: David Buchan/Variety/Penske Media via Getty; Emma McIntyre/Getty -
Jeff Franklin reflects on working with a 24-year-old Tom Hanks on the sitcom Bosom Buddies
Franklin describes Hanks as charismatic, funny and talented, predicting early on that he’d have a successful career
Bosom Buddies introduced Hanks to audiences before he became one of the most celebrated actors of all time
Writer, director and producer Jeff Franklin is recounting what a young Tom Hanks was like on the set of the show that made him famous: Bosom Buddies.
Franklin was just 24 years old when he started writing for Laverne & Shirley, a Happy Days spin-off that starred Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, two friends and roommates living in Milwaukee, Wis., in the 1950s and ‘60s. The show ran from 1976 to 1983.
A few years later, Franklin began writing and producing for Bosom Buddies, which starred Hanks, now 70, and Peter Scolari as two single advertising designers who disguise themselves as women in order to live in an affordable all-female hotel.
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Tom Hanks (as Buffy Wilson) in ‘Bosom Buddies’Credit: CBS Photo Archive/Getty
“I did three years on Laverne & Shirley, and then I went and produced and wrote Bosom Buddies,” Franklin, 71, tells PEOPLE in a recent exclusive interview. “And obviously that was the sitcom that introduced Tom Hanks to the world.”
Franklin continues: “Tom was only 24 when he started, but he was just so special. He had the whole package: charisma galore and incredible acting chops. He was funny as hell. And we all thought, ‘Oh, this guy’s going to have a nice career.’ Of course, we had no idea how nice.”
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“He went on to become one of the greatest actors of all time,” Franklin notes.
Franklin says of writing for the show: “It was a great show for me because I was finally writing for young single guys, even though they were in drag half the show.”
Franklin went on to achieve even greater success in television with the creation of Full House, which ran from 1987 to 1995.
Hanks, meanwhile, went on to have a very successful career himself, winning two Academy Awards for acting and carving out a resume that includes roles in such acclaimed films as Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan and Philadelphia.
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Hanks met his wife, Rita Wilson, on the set of Bosom Buddies in 1981, and the two reconnected years later. They went public with their relationship in 1986 and married in 1988.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
