How Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman honored FedEx founder Fred Smith during Memphis event
Two Hollywood stars also paid tribute to Smith via recorded segments: Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman. Each of the Academy Award-winning actors narrated a pair of video segments that paid homage to Smith's impact on Memphis, FedEx and global economics.
Additionally, other national figures on hand at FedExForum included former Secretary of State John Kerry, who served as a U.S. Senator for Massachusetts from 1985 to 2013 and was the Democratic presidential nominee during the 2004 presidential election.
Kerry and Smith were classmates at Yale University. The pair was also part of the illustrious Skull & Bones "secret society" at the university. (Smith was also friends with fellow Yale alumnus and former president George W. Bush, who defeated Kerry in the 2004 election.)
FRED SMITH CELEBRATION OF LIFE: FedEx founder Fred Smith honored in Memphis: 'He changed the world'
What do Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman have to do with FedEx?
Tom Hanks will forever have a connection to FedEx — and indirectly, to Memphis — due to the 2000 film "Cast Away." The partly made-in-Memphis movie, which earned Hanks a Best Actor Oscar nomination, follows a fictional FedEx employee named Chuck Noland who ends up stranded on a desert island following a plane crash. Smith made a cameo in the movie.
Freeman may not have a direct FedEx connection like Hanks; however, the cinema veteran was born in the Bluff City on June 1, 1937. He has been nominated for an Academy Award five times, with his lone win coming in 2005 for a supporting role in "Million Dollar Baby."
REMEMBERING FRED SMITH: Fascinating facts about FedEx founder Fred Smith: From A (Alcon) to Z (Zebra)
The presence of Hollywood stars for Smith's Aug. 11 celebration of life is not surprising given Smith's history in film financing. In 1997, Smith became a chief financial player with the movie studio, Alcon Entertainment.
Alcon Entertainment has helped produce "The Garfield Movie" and "Blade Runner 2049." Additionally, the studio has launched several TV shows, including the "Blade Runner: Black Lotus" anime and is producing a live-action Blade Runner series for Amazon Prime called "Blade Runner 2099."
Additionally, two of Smith's daughters, Rachel and Molly Smith, are also in the entertainment business. The siblings both work at Black Label Media studios. In 2013, Molly Smith helped co-found the studio, which produced the Academy Award-winning "La La Land" and "Sicario."
Neil Strebig is a journalist with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at neil.strebig@commercialappeal.com, 901-426-0679 or via X/Twitter: @neilStrebig.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman honor FedEx founder Fred Smith
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