Word: tomming
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Tom had dyslexia, a reading disability that bred frustration and a poor school record. "I didn't have any tools to study with," he says. "I didn't know what studying was." A grind for perfection, Cruise today often carries a dictionary so he can look up unfamiliar words. "He comes into my office," says Top Gun co-producer Don Simpson, "and goes over my stack of books, taking notes. Last night he used the word plethora. Two years ago, he didn't know the word...
...Mapother family faced a plethora of problems. The parents divorced, and Mary Lee moved her children to Louisville. Tom missed his dad, but says, "My father was not a guy to go out and hit baseballs to me. It was my mother who took me to my first ball game." In 1984 Cruise's father died of cancer. He had never seen any of his son's films. Though there was no reconciliation, Tom's father finally acknowledged his domestic mistakes. An edge of anger creeps into Cruise's voice: "But he never said...
...Louisville, Mary Lee rallied the children. As Lee Anne recalls, her mother said, "O.K., things have changed. This is the new game plan." With no child support available, Mary Lee juggled three jobs, and the children earned money too -- especially Tom, then twelve. "All of a sudden, I was the guy," he says. "I grew very protective of my family." Cruise remembers the first Christmas without his father: "There wasn't any money for presents. So we picked names out of a hat and did something special for that person. You would find a flower on your...
...Mapother home was now largely a tight sorority in which Tom served as father, brother and friend. "Having grown up with women, I trust and believe them more than men," he says. "I love women. I love the way they smell." Today Cruise is just as close to Mary Lee and his sisters, who are frequent visitors to his sets. This month in Charlotte, when Lee Anne's two-year-old was injured in a hotel door, Tom rushed to the rescue, stayed with the child as the doctors stitched the wound, jollying him in recovery, being a great uncle...
...Tom had attended three high schools and studied for a year at a Franciscan seminary, where his desire to become a priest eventually gave way before his love of women. By his senior year he was in Glen Ridge, N.J., where a knee injury dislodged him from the school wrestling team. He was miserable. Then he auditioned for the Nathan Detroit role in Guys and Dolls and got the part. "It was the first thing in my life for a long, long time that I felt excited about," Cruise says. He announced to his family that he was going...