The actor paid a touching tribute to the man who inspired one of his most popular roles (Picture: Rob Kim / Getty Images)
Tom Hanks penned an emotional tribute to the man who inspired The Terminal, following his death.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, the man whose story inspired the Steven Spielberg film, died in the airport he lived in for 18 years on Saturday, November 13.
The Iranian man, who called himself Sir Alfred, is believed to have been born in 1945 but became stuck in legal limbo in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris in 1988 after apparently lacking residency papers.
Nasseri is said to have died of natural causes in Terminal 2F, believed to be a heart attack according to an airport official via AFP.
In 2004 hit The Terminal, Hanks, 66, played an Eastern European man stranded in New York’s John F. Kennedy airport when he is denied entry to the United States – but at the same time is left unable to return to his native country because of a military coup.
After hearing the news of Nasseri’s death, Hanks paid tribute with a touching post on Wednesday.
Nasseri was the inspiration for Spielberg’s hit film The Terminal (Picture: Stephane De Sakutin / AFP)
Hanks starred in the 2004 film The Terminal (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)
‘Sad to hear of the passing of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, aka Alfred, from Charles de Gaulle,’ he penned on Instagram alongside a photo of Nasseri with a poster for The Terminal
‘“The airport is not that bad.” No one knew that better than Mehran. Hanx.’
The Hollywood star turned off comments on the post, but it quickly amassed almost 90,000 likes since being posted.
Nasseri was granted refugee status and the right to remain in France in 1999 but chose not to leave the airport.
He said at the time: ‘I’m not quite sure what I want to do, stay at Roissy or leave. I have papers, I can stay here, I think I should carefully study all the options before making a decision.’
His lawyer, Christian Bourguet, said at the time: ‘He no longer wants to leave the airport. He’s scared of going.’
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The man lived in Charles de Gaulle airport for 18 years.
