Samantha Lewes: Life, Death & Legacy of Tom Hanks’ First Wife
For decades, Samantha Lewes was a footnote in celebrity biographies—the first wife of Tom Hanks, an actress who stepped away from the spotlight. A 2025 memoir by her daughter, Elizabeth Hanks, has pulled her story into sharp relief, painting a portrait far more complicated than the public record ever suggested.
Born: November 29, 1952, San Diego, California ·
Died: 2002 (age 49), lung/bone cancer ·
Marriage to Tom Hanks: 1978–1987 ·
Children: Colin Hanks (b. 1977), Elizabeth Hanks (b. 1982) ·
Profession: Actress, known for Bosom Buddies and Mr. Success ·
Posthumous attention: 2025 memoir by daughter Elizabeth Hanks
Quick snapshot
- Born Susan Dillingham in San Diego, 1952 (South China Morning Post)
- Married Tom Hanks 1978–1987 (People)
- Mother of Colin (b. 1977) and Elizabeth (b. 1982) (Hello! Magazine)
- Died of cancer in 2002 at age 49 (The Famous People)
- Exact reason for the divorce—no official statement from either party (People)
- Whether abuse allegations in Elizabeth’s memoir are fully accurate (Revista Monet)
- Full details of her mental health struggles (Alexander Magazine)
- Exact burial location (IMDb)
- Public interest in the memoir may drive new biographical research (MSN)
- Tom Hanks has stated he is “not surprised” by the allegations (People)
- No further family statements have been issued (Alexander Magazine)
Nine key facts paint the public picture of Samantha Lewes’s life—and the gaps in that picture.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Full name at birth | Susan Dillingham |
| Professional name | Samantha Lewes |
| Date of birth | November 29, 1952 |
| Place of birth | San Diego, California, USA |
| Date of death | 2002 |
| Cause of death | Bone cancer (also reported as lung cancer) |
| Spouse | Tom Hanks (1978–1987) |
| Children | Colin Hanks (b. 1977), Elizabeth Hanks (b. 1982) |
| Notable roles | Bosom Buddies (1980), Mr. Success (1984) |
Why did Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks split?
The divorce between Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks was finalized in 1987 after nine years of marriage, but no public statement from either party ever explained the reason (People). What is known: Hanks met actress Rita Wilson on the set of Bosom Buddies in 1981, and married her in 1988, one year after the divorce was finalized.
The absence of any on-record explanation from either Hanks or Lewes means every narrative about the split—including the common assumption that Hanks left Lewes for Wilson—remains secondhand. We simply do not have a primary source.
Did Tom Hanks leave his first wife for Rita Wilson?
The timeline is suggestive but not conclusive:
- 1981: Hanks meets Wilson while filming Bosom Buddies, where Lewes also appeared (The List)
- 1987: Divorce finalized
- 1988: Hanks marries Wilson
The implication: Hanks and Wilson married quickly after the divorce, but correlation isn’t causation. No source—neither Hanks, Wilson, nor Lewes—has confirmed an affair or that Wilson was the cause of the marriage’s end.
What happened to Samantha Lewes?
After her divorce, Samantha Lewes largely withdrew from public life. She died in 2002 at age 49 after a battle with cancer (South China Morning Post). News outlets reported her death as resulting from lung cancer (People), while IMDb lists the cause as bone cancer (IMDb). The discrepancy is common in celebrity death reporting—many cancer diagnoses that begin in one organ are initially reported differently.
For a woman whose life has been reinterpreted posthumously—first through brief obituaries, now through a daughter’s memoir—the imprecision around something as basic as cause of death reflects how little public documentation exists for her later years.
What was Samantha Lewes’s cause of death?
Two credible sources disagree:
- People Magazine reports she died of lung cancer (People)
- IMDb lists bone cancer (IMDb)
The South China Morning Post also reports lung cancer and states she was 49 at death (South China Morning Post). The Famous People site gives a specific death date of March 12, 2002, and bone cancer as the cause (The Famous People).
The trade-off: Without an autopsy report or medical release, the precise nature of her cancer remains a matter of secondary reporting, not primary documentation.
What did Tom Hanks say about Samantha Lewes’ death?
Tom Hanks has rarely spoken publicly about his first wife. In the context of Elizabeth Hanks’s 2025 memoir, however, Hanks told People he is “not surprised” by the allegations Elizabeth makes about her childhood (People). This brief comment is one of the few times Hanks has addressed his first marriage publicly.
Is Tom Hanks a nice guy in real life?
Elizabeth Hanks’s memoir reportedly describes a childhood marked by “confusion, violence, and deprivation” in her mother’s home after the divorce (Revista Monet). The memoir explicitly alleges emotional and physical abuse.
What this means: The public figure—beloved, genial, Oscar-winning—and the private father who, by his own admission, was aware of a troubled household may be two different people. Hanks’s “not surprised” remark implies he knew more than he had previously shared, but he has offered no further details.
Does Tom Hanks’ daughter get along with Rita Wilson?
Elizabeth Hanks’s memoir coverage suggests a strained relationship with her stepmother, Rita Wilson. While the memoir does not center on Wilson, the narrative framework—a difficult home life with Lewes, contrasted with a stepmother Elizabeth reportedly found hard to connect with—has been noted in coverage (Alexander Magazine).
This is the classic blended-family tension: a child caught between two households. Elizabeth’s account gives voice to a perspective rarely heard in celebrity divorce stories—the child who lived with the less famous parent, with fewer resources and less public sympathy.
Does Tom Hanks have a black grandchild?
Yes. According to The List, Colin Hanks, Elizabeth’s brother, is married to Samantha Bryant, who is Black, and the couple has two daughters. This fact has circulated in response to questions about Tom Hanks’s grandchildren, though Elizabeth Hanks’s memoir does not address it (The List).
Who are Samantha Lewes’s children?
Samantha Lewes had two children with Tom Hanks:
- Colin Hanks, born in 1977 (Hello! Magazine)—now an actor known for Orange County and Fargo
- Elizabeth Hanks (also known as E.A. Hanks), born in 1982 (Hello! Magazine)—author of the 2025 memoir
After the divorce, custody of the children reportedly went to Samantha Lewes (Alexander Magazine), which shaped the childhood Elizabeth describes in her book.
What was Samantha Lewes’s ethnicity?
Public records indicate Samantha Lewes was white. She was born Susan Dillingham in San Diego, California (South China Morning Post). No specific ethnic background beyond European descent is documented in credible sources.
Where was Samantha Lewes buried?
Burial details for Samantha Lewes are not well-documented. IMDb lists her death place as Sacramento, California (IMDb), but no verified source confirms her burial site. This gap is one of many that the 2025 memoir has not yet filled.
Confirmed vs. unclear: A facts breakdown
Confirmed facts
- Samantha Lewes was born in 1952 and died in 2002 (South China Morning Post)
- She was married to Tom Hanks from 1978 to 1987 (People)
- She had two children: Colin and Elizabeth Hanks (Hello! Magazine)
- Tom Hanks married Rita Wilson in 1988 (People)
What’s unclear
- Exact reason for the divorce (no official statement)
- Whether abuse allegations in Elizabeth’s memoir are fully accurate (Alexander Magazine; Revista Monet)
- Full details of her mental health struggles (Alexander Magazine)
- Exact details of her funeral and burial (IMDb)
- Exact type of cancer and whether it was the primary diagnosis (People vs. IMDb)
The pattern: The confirmed list is short; the unclear list is longer, and that imbalance is itself the finding.
Timeline: Samantha Lewes’s life at a glance
- 1952: Born Susan Dillingham in San Diego, California (South China Morning Post)
- 1978: Marries Tom Hanks (People)
- 1980: Appears in Bosom Buddies alongside Hanks (IMDb)
- 1981: Hanks meets Rita Wilson on set of Bosom Buddies (People)
- 1987: Divorce from Tom Hanks finalized (Alexander Magazine)
- 1988: Tom Hanks marries Rita Wilson (People)
- 2002: Samantha Lewes dies of cancer at age 49 (The Famous People)
- 2025: Daughter Elizabeth Hanks publishes memoir alleging abuse and emotional turmoil (MSN)
“Tom Hanks’s daughter reveals turbulent childhood in memoir.”
— Headline, MSN coverage (MSN)
“Hanks is ‘not surprised’ by his daughter’s allegations about her childhood.”
— People’s coverage of Tom Hanks’s response (People)
The shift in tone from neutral dates to charged headlines captures how rapidly the public narrative changed.
What the memoir changes
Before Elizabeth Hanks’s 2025 memoir, the public record of Samantha Lewes consisted of a brief Wikipedia entry, an IMDb page, and scattered news mentions. The memoir introduces a first-person account of Lewes as a mother—troubled, reportedly abusive, and emotionally volatile. People has noted that Hanks did not dispute the memoir’s claims, but rather acknowledged them as consistent with what he knew (People).
For readers trying to separate fact from family lore, the memoir is a new primary source—but it is also one account, shaped by one person’s memory of a painful childhood. It does not replace the need for verifiable documentation, nor does it answer the questions the public record still holds.
For a detailed look at her life beyond the headlines, see Samantha Lewes biography and legacy.
Frequently asked questions
What was Samantha Lewes’s real name?
Her birth name was Susan Dillingham. She adopted the professional name Samantha Lewes for her acting career.
How many children did Samantha Lewes have?
She had two children with Tom Hanks: Colin Hanks (born 1977) and Elizabeth Hanks (born 1982).
Did Samantha Lewes act in Forrest Gump?
No. She is not listed in the cast of Forrest Gump or any other major Tom Hanks film later in his career. Her acting credits are limited to Bosom Buddies (1980) and Mr. Success (1984).
Does IMDb list where Samantha Lewes died?
IMDb lists her death place as Sacramento, California, but no reliable source confirms the cemetery or burial location.
What was Samantha Lewes’s net worth?
No verified source states her net worth at death. As a non-star who left acting in the 1980s and died in 2002, her financial situation was never publicly disclosed.
Did Samantha Lewes have any siblings?
No credible public source documents siblings. Her early life prior to marrying Tom Hanks is poorly recorded.
How did Tom Hanks and Samantha Lewes meet?
They reportedly met while both were working in theater and student productions at California State University, Sacramento. The exact circumstances are not documented in any major source.
The unanswered questions are not gaps in journalism but gaps in the historical record itself.
Related reading: Alison Eastwood Now: Career, Family, and 2023 Arrest · Kristin Cavallari: Divorce, Kids, Net Worth, Relationship
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