The U.S. Navy has awarded actor Tom Cruise with its top civilian award for helping to boost the naval service with his hit Top Gun movies.
Cruise was awarded the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award on Tuesday for “outstanding contributions to the Navy and the Marine Corps” with his Top Gun</I. series and other movies, according to Stars & Stripes.
The award ceremony occurred Longcross Studios near London because Cruise was in the U.K. filming another movie. The ceremony was headed by U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.
Cruise, 62, said he was honored to receive the award.
“I admire all of the servicemen and women,” Cruise said at the ceremony. “I know in life, something that is very true to me, is that is to lead is to serve. And I know that to my core. And I see that in the servicemen and women.”
The original Top Gun film following the exploits of Navy fighter pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell was a massive hit in 1986 when it first hit theaters. And Cruise replicated that acclaim in 2022 when he starred in the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick.
Top Gun became the biggest hit worldwide in 1986 and earned almost $354 million in its first release. The sequel did even better, raking in more than one billion at the box office upon its release in 2022, even amid the COVID pandemic. The sequel was also the biggest film of it release year.
The Nay praised the sequel in particular saying it “brought nostalgia to older audiences and reinvigorated the minds of newer audience members, which effectively targeted a younger audience’s interest into the skill sets and opportunities the Navy can provide.”
Cruise was also praised for his roles in films including, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men, and the Mission: Impossible films.
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