Quick Bio Facts
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Real Name | Susan Jane Dillingham |
| Stage Name | Samantha Lewes |
| Birth Date | November 29, 1952 |
| Birth Place | San Diego, California, USA |
| Death Date | March 12, 2002 |
| Age at Death | 49 years old |
| Cause of Death | Bone cancer (some sources say it spread to her lungs) |
| Father | John Raymond Dillingham (Marine veteran) |
| Mother | Harriet Hall Dillingham (teacher) |
| Met Tom Hanks | Mid-1970s, studying theater at Sacramento State University |
| Married Tom Hanks | 1978 |
| Divorced Tom Hanks | 1987 (separated in 1985) |
| Children | Colin Hanks (b. 1977), Elizabeth Ann “E.A.” Hanks (b. 1982) |
| Known Acting Roles | Bosom Buddies, Mr. Success |
| Buried At | East Lawn Memorial Park, Sacramento |
A Name Most People Don’t Know
Most people know Tom Hanks. Fewer people know the woman he married first. Her name was Samantha Lewes, though that wasn’t even her real name.
Her actual birth name was Susan Jane Dillingham. Samantha Lewes was a stage name she picked for her acting career. Behind that stage name was a complicated, painful, and ultimately tragic story that only came fully into the light decades later, thanks to her own daughter.
Where Her Story Began
Susan Dillingham was born on November 29, 1952, in San Diego, California. Her dad, John Raymond Dillingham, had served as a Marine in wartime. Her mom, Harriet Hall Dillingham, worked as a teacher.
Her childhood wasn’t steady. Her parents eventually separated, and that kind of instability followed her through her early years. Details about her exact upbringing are scattered across different places, since her family moved around quite a bit.
Even as a young girl, she gravitated toward art and storytelling. That pull toward creative work eventually led her into theater, and theater is exactly where her life would change forever.
Meeting Tom Hanks in College
In the mid-1970s, Susan enrolled at California State University, Sacramento, to study theater. That’s where she crossed paths with a young, unknown student named Tom Hanks.
Neither of them was famous yet. They were just two college kids, working on plays together, learning their craft side by side. Their connection grew naturally out of shared dreams and shared struggle.
Their daughter would later describe this bond in a beautifully honest way. She said her father was carrying trauma from his own childhood, filled with divorce and a rotating cast of stepparents. Her mother was doing the same. As she described it, their relationship was like two wounded children working side by side to climb out of the same well.
Starting a Family Fast
Things moved quickly for the young couple. In 1977, their son Colin was born, actually before Tom and Susan officially tied the knot. The following year, in 1978, they got married.
At the time, Susan was 26 years old, and Tom was only 22. They didn’t have much money. They were building a life together as young parents while still figuring out their careers and their own identities.
In 1982, their family grew again with the birth of their daughter, Elizabeth Ann Hanks, who everyone would eventually come to know as E.A. Hanks. Now they had two young kids and a marriage that was being tested by the pressures of early adulthood.
A Career That Started Small
Susan took on the stage name Samantha Lewes as she pursued acting professionally. Her career, however, never grew into anything major. She landed a role in an episode of the ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies in 1981, notably appearing alongside her own husband, playing a waitress in that episode.
She also appeared in a 1984 film called Mr. Success. But beyond these credits, her acting career remained small and limited. This wasn’t unusual for the era, but it became especially painful once her husband’s own career exploded into massive stardom.
Her daughter later reflected on this imbalance in her mother’s life. According to E.A., her mom felt like she never truly recovered from watching her ex-husband’s fame grow so enormous. She felt like his success made her own stalled career sting even more.
When Tom Hanks Became Famous
While Samantha’s acting career stayed small, Tom’s career took off in a completely different direction. Bosom Buddies gave him his first real break on television. Soon after, movies like Splash pushed him toward the kind of stardom most actors only dream about.
This growing gap between them didn’t help their marriage. Tom was working constantly, often away from home for long stretches. That left Samantha managing most of the day-to-day parenting responsibilities on her own, while trying to hold onto her own sense of purpose and identity.
The Marriage Falls Apart
By 1985, after roughly seven years of marriage, Tom and Samantha decided to separate. The divorce was officially finalized in 1987. Tom later spoke briefly about this chapter of his life in a 2013 interview, explaining that getting married so young, out of loneliness, meant taking on responsibilities before he was truly ready for them.
Rita Wilson, who would later become Tom’s second wife, shared an interesting detail years afterward. She revealed that Tom had actually turned down the lead role in “When Harry Met Sally” because he couldn’t personally relate to the character’s sadness over his own divorce. According to Rita, Tom was actually relieved to no longer be married at that point in his life.
Custody and a Sudden Move
After the divorce, Samantha was granted primary custody of Colin and Elizabeth. Tom remained involved as a father, visiting his children on weekends and during summer breaks, but the day-to-day parenting fell to Samantha.
Then something happened that shook the family dynamic even further. Without telling Tom, Samantha packed up and moved their children from Los Angeles to Sacramento. According to E.A.’s later account, her father showed up at their old school one day to pick them up, only to discover they hadn’t been there for two weeks already. He had to track down where his own children had gone.
This move marked the beginning of a new chapter for the kids—one their daughter would later describe as deeply complicated, filled with both love and real hardship.
A Childhood Marked by Struggle
Decades later, E.A. Hanks wrote candidly about her years living with her mother in Sacramento. She described her childhood using words like confusion, deprivation, and at times, both emotional and physical violence.
In her memoir, she painted a picture of a home that started out looking picture-perfect but slowly deteriorated over the years. She recalled a white house with columns, a swimming pool, and horse pictures covering her bedroom walls. Over time, though, she remembered the yard becoming neglected and the house filling with the smell of cigarette smoke.
E.A. also described her mother experiencing frequent emotional outbursts as the years went on, along with moments of frantic, out-loud prayer that grew more frequent as Elizabeth entered her teenage years. It’s clear from these accounts that Samantha was struggling deeply during this period, though the exact nature of what she was going through isn’t something this article can diagnose or label.
Staying Connected Despite Everything
Even with all this difficulty, Tom didn’t disappear from his children’s lives. He continued visiting them on weekends and during school breaks throughout their childhood and teenage years, even after starting a new family with Rita Wilson.
Interestingly, despite the pain described in E.A.’s memoir, Samantha and Tom appeared to remain on relatively civil terms as the years passed. They came together for important milestones, including their children’s high school graduations, where family photos show Samantha standing alongside her children, with Tom and Rita nearby as well.
Getting Sick
In 2001, Samantha received devastating news. She was diagnosed with bone cancer. This illness would eventually spread further into her body, ultimately reaching her lungs according to some accounts of her final months.
As her health declined, those around her described her as facing significant pain, pain that doctors could only work to manage rather than fully relieve. Despite their complicated history, Tom reportedly made sure his ex-wife received quality medical care during this difficult time, with some sources suggesting he even helped cover the costs of her treatment.
Her Final Days
Samantha Lewes passed away on March 12, 2002. She was only 49 years old. Her death came after a genuinely difficult battle with cancer that had taken hold of her body over roughly a year.
She was laid to rest at East Lawn Memorial Park in Sacramento, the city that had become such a significant part of her story, both good and bad. According to available records, she never remarried after her divorce from Tom.
The Children She Left Behind
Samantha’s son, Colin Hanks, grew up to follow in his father’s footsteps, becoming a successful actor in his own right. He’s appeared in films like Orange County, King Kong, and the Jumanji series. Colin and his wife, Samantha Bryant, are the parents of two daughters, Charlotte and Olivia.
Her daughter, Elizabeth Ann Hanks, took a different creative path, becoming a writer and occasional actress. She appeared in projects like Forrest Gump and That Thing You Do!, both of which happened to star her own father. But her most significant contribution to her mother’s story came decades later, in the form of a deeply personal memoir.
The Memoir That Changed Everything
In April 2025, E.A. Hanks released a book called “The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road.” This memoir became the primary way the public finally learned the full, complicated truth about her mother’s life and their relationship.
In the book, E.A. describes taking a six-month road trip to Florida, where her mother’s family once lived, in an effort to better understand who Samantha really was beneath the stage name and the tabloid mentions. This journey clearly meant a great deal to her, offering closure and insight into a parent she’d lost young and never fully understood.
Tom Hanks Responds to the Memoir
When his daughter’s memoir came out, Tom Hanks didn’t shy away from acknowledging the honesty in her account. He told Access Hollywood that he wasn’t surprised his daughter had both the courage and curiosity to examine such a difficult part of their shared history.
He added a simple but powerful line about his own perspective on family struggles, saying that everyone comes from what he called “checkered, cracked lives.” This response suggested Tom wasn’t trying to deny or dismiss what his daughter had experienced, even if he hadn’t spoken about it publicly himself before that point.
Why Her Story Matters
Samantha Lewes’ story is a reminder that the impact of fame extends far beyond the individual who achieves it. It ripples outward, touching spouses, children, and entire families in ways that aren’t always visible from the outside.
She was more than just “the first wife” of a beloved actor. She was a mother who struggled. She was a woman with her own creative dreams that never fully materialized. She was someone dealing with genuine personal hardship, much of which stayed hidden from the public until her own daughter chose to share it years after her death.
Her story isn’t really about Hollywood glamour at all. It’s about the real, complicated cost that comes with growing up, getting married young, and trying to build a life while carrying invisible weight that isn’t always easy for others to see or understand.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Samantha Lewes
Q1: What was Samantha Lewes’ real name?
Her real name was Susan Jane Dillingham. Samantha Lewes was a stage name she used professionally as an actress, which is how she became publicly known during and after her marriage to Tom Hanks.
Q2: When did Samantha Lewes marry Tom Hanks?
They married in 1978, after meeting in the mid-1970s while both studying theater at California State University, Sacramento. Their son Colin was actually born in 1977, before their wedding took place.
Q3: How many children did Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks have?
They had two children together: a son named Colin Hanks, born in 1977, and a daughter named Elizabeth Ann Hanks, known as E.A., born in 1982.
Q4: Why did Samantha Lewes and Tom Hanks divorce?
The couple separated in 1985 and finalized their divorce in 1987, after about seven years of marriage. Tom has said that marrying young, partly out of loneliness, meant taking on responsibilities before he was truly prepared for them, which contributed to the marriage’s difficulties.
Q5: What acting roles was Samantha Lewes known for?
She’s best known for appearing in an episode of the sitcom Bosom Buddies in 1981, alongside her then-husband Tom Hanks, and for a role in the 1984 film Mr. Success. Her acting career remained fairly limited overall.
Q6: How did Samantha Lewes die?
She died on March 12, 2002, at age 49, following a battle with bone cancer. Some sources note the cancer eventually spread to her lungs before her death.
Q7: Did Samantha Lewes remarry after divorcing Tom Hanks?
No, according to available records and reports, she did not remarry after her divorce from Tom Hanks.
Q8: What did E.A. Hanks say about her childhood with her mother?
In her 2025 memoir, “The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road,” E.A. Hanks described her childhood years living with her mother as filled with confusion, deprivation, and at times, emotional and physical violence, alongside genuine moments of love.
Q9: Did Tom Hanks stay involved with his children after the divorce?
Yes, Tom remained connected to Colin and Elizabeth throughout their childhood, visiting them on weekends and during school holidays, even after Samantha moved them to Sacramento and after he remarried.
Q10: Why did Samantha Lewes move her children to Sacramento?
The specific reasons behind this decision aren’t fully detailed in public sources, but E.A.’s memoir describes it as a sudden move that Tom wasn’t informed about in advance, leading to confusion when he tried to visit his children at their old school.
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