Biography

Dan "Danno" Hanks, has a seven-page rap sheet showing more than fifty arrests and four terms in state and federal prisons. The youngest of ten children, he was born to Cheerful Louise Kappes & Daniel Joseph Portley III on July 13th, 1946. His birth father committed suicide when Dan was less then a year old. He had suffered injuries while in a lifeboat for 18 days. The story was chronicled in a news story and turned into the Alfred Hitchcock film "Lifeboat".( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037017/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) He took to the night streets as a teenager, to avoid the advances of a sexually abusive stepfather, Charles Hanks. In 1976, while imprisoned at San Quentin, he witnessed a fatal stabbing in the chow line. Two inmates were arguing whether or not one character was sleeping with another on an afternoon soap. Upon his release, he discovered he could make more money and stay out of jail by working the other side of the law - as a private investigator and a Confidential Informant for the DEA & FBI. For a period of the time that Danno was incarcerated, it was in the co-ed federal prison in Pleasanton, California. Danno was the first (and for a long time, the only) male prisoner in the prison. He wrote a short story "Prisoner in Paradise", which was written into a full script by George Gallo of Midnight Run fame. Danno teamed up with Fred Valis after his release from prison and the two of them formed Backstreet Investigations. Danno has since been responsible for solving more than a thousand theft, fraud, and drug cases. After working with Fred Valis for 25 years, he obtained a certificate of Rehabilitation and was granted his own private investigator's license. Shortly after his long time partner, Fred Valis passed away, leaving Danno to carry on the Backstreet Investigations legacy alone. Danno has worked as a story consultant to writer George Gallo & a technical advisor on police & crime dramas. He can be seen as a regular commentator on "Geraldo at Large". He is currently retired as a private investigator, but has re-activated his Sag-Aftra card and can be seen in the soon to be released George Gallo film "The Comeback Trail" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5420210/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0)
- IMDb mini biography by: Danno Hanks

Grand-Mother (Cheerful Willoughby) was an actress in silent films (appeared with Eddie Cantor in "Kid Boots" (1926). His Mother (Cheerful Kappes) married Charles Hanks, who adopted him, when Dan was nine years old. He then changed his last name to Hanks.

Danno's Uncle, John Joseph Portley, was married to Jackie Coogan's aunt.

When he is asked how to spell his name, he always replys "Like in Tom Hanks, only without the money & talent"