Tom Hanks takes 'drunk' photo with fan, delights the entire internet

Photos of actor Tom Hanks posing with a fan pretending to be drunk have inspired a flood of celebrity-encounter stories on Reddit. (imgur.com)

He may be one of the world's most recognizable people but according to online commenters, Tom Hanks is every bit as approachable as the great-guy characters he often plays in movies.

A now-viral set of photos posted to imgur.com Sunday afternoon show the Academy award-winning actor with one seemingly intoxicated young fan at a restaurant.

Hanks is shown pointing, laughing, and putting his own glasses on the 'drunk' guy, who ends up face down in front of some pizza.

"My friend met Tom Hanks, stole his glasses and pretended to be wasted," reads the headline of a post on Reddit linking to the images, which have already been viewed more than 800,000 times.

(imgur.com)

No location or further context was given by post's author, but as entertainment blog ScreenCrush points out, Hank's Twitter feed shows that he was on vacation in Fargo, North Dakota last week.

Dozens of blogs have picked up the photos, hailing Tom Hanks as everything from "truly awesome" to "the most fun celebrity out there," and stories offered up by commenters prove that this one act of graciousness is far from a fluke.

"I met Tom Hanks about 15 years ago at Disneyland. I was waiting after getting off Thunder Mountain Railroad and he walked up and I introduced myself and just mentioned that I really liked his movies. He shook my hand and was very appreciative. Really nice guy," wrote flocker92 on Reddit.

"Confirmed he is chill. In a random small town my brother turns around and sees Tom Hanks. Brother: hey Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks: hey kid," wrote another Redditor, whose screen name is too racy to be repeated.

"I worked for his PR reps back in the day and he and Rita were all about bringing cookies to the office, being super friendly to even us plebs in the cubicles, and giving cars to their publicist at Christmas - no joke," wrote Occula on Gawker.com.

Another Gawker commenter offered up a lengthy account of the time Hanks plunged a clogged toilet at his son's college, laughing about the experience afterward.

Dozens more shared tales and (and horror stories) of their own celebrity encounters.

Have you ever met somebody very famous? Were they gracious or not so much? Share your stories in the comments below. Bonus points for a Tom Hanks tale!