Claim: Tom Hanks was an executive producer for the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.

Band of Brothers is a 2001 American war drama miniseries based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose 's 1992 non-fiction book of the same name . The executive producers were Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks , who had collaborated on the 1998 World War II film Saving Private Ryan . The episodes first aired in 2001 on HBO . The series won Emmy and Golden Globe awards in 2001 for best miniseries .   The series dramatizes the history of `` Easy '' Company -LRB- part of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment , 101st Airborne Division -RRB- from jump training in the United States through its participation in major actions in Europe , and up until Japan 's capitulation and war 's end . The events portrayed are based on Ambrose 's research and recorded interviews with Easy Company veterans . The series took literary license , adapting the recorded history for the purposes of dramatic effect and series structure . All of the characters portrayed are based on members of Easy Company . Some of the men were recorded in contemporary interviews , which viewers see as preludes to each episode . The men 's identities are not revealed until the finale .   The title for the book and the series comes from the St Crispin 's Day Speech in William Shakespeare 's play Henry V , delivered by Henry V of England before the Battle of Agincourt . Ambrose quotes a passage from the speech on his book 's first page ; this passage is spoken by Carwood Lipton in the series ' finale .