He’s got a friend in us: Tom Hanks is making another appearance in our newsletter.
Mr. Hanks first caught our attention when he sat down and gave a thought-provoking interview on playing Mr. Rodgers in the film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
Then we featured his monologue for the first open of SNL’s new ‘live from home’ broadcast.
Now, Tom Hanks has captured our attention again with a heartfelt gesture to one of his biggest fans.
While Tom and his wife were recovering he became penpals with an 8-year-old Australian boy named Corona De Vries.
Corona wrote Hanks to ask if he and his wife were okay. The boy also told Hanks he had been feeling “sad and angry” because classmates started bullying him about his name.
After exchanging a few letters, Hanks decided to help make Corona feel better by gifting him a special typewriter he had brought with him on his travels down under. And it just so happened to be made by the typewriter company Smith Corona.
“Your letter made my wife and I feel so wonderful! You’re the only person I’ve ever known to have the name Corona — like the ring around the sun, a crown,” Hanks replied in a letter typed on the Corona typewriter. “I thought this typewriter would suit you. Ask a grown-up how it works. And use it to write me back.”
“P.S. You got a friend in ME!” Hanks added.