Tom Hanks Facts

Tom Hanks owns more than 250 vintage typewriters and has been collecting since 1978, when he bought a Hermes 2000 in a Cleveland repair shop for $45. He regularly gives them away - to typewriter repair shops, fans who write to him, and a bullied 8-year-old Australian boy named Corona who wrote to him during the pandemic. He even built a typewriter app that hit #1 on the App Store. One machine at a time, he is putting them back in the world.

Wounded World War II veteran Bob Dole was raising money for a memorial that much of America did not know was planned. He went to Tom Hanks with a long list of reasons to help. Within ten seconds, Hanks said, "I'm your man." He became the campaign's national spokesman, and more than 600,000 donations came in. It opened in 2004, and about four million people visit every year.