Think back, to before Tom Cruise the Cycloptic Nazi-Hunter, before Cruise the Android-Baby-Wrangler (but not to Cruise the Goateed Samurai—that's too far), all the way to the Tom Cruise of May 2005: A man in the throes of a love so monstrous, the only way he could adequately relay it to Oprah Winfrey was by mounting the talk show host's couch, and, in a vivid demonstration of Hooke's law, using the coiled energy stored inside her upholstered seating to launch himself 23 feet into the air.

It was, in no uncertain terms, a life-defining moment for the superstar, who'll no doubt address that and the many exciting developments that followed when he returns to Winfrey's show for a two-part special airing May 2 and 5. (The occasion: The 25th anniversary of Risky Business, a milestone only slightly less anticipated than Top Gun's own quarter-century birthday in 2011, marked by an historic reunion between Cruise and a 270-lb Val Kilmer on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.)

• Tom Cruise returns to Oprah show [BBC]

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