Tom Hanks Fulfills a Promise with a Typewriter Gift

Tom Hanks is keeping his word. The two-time Oscar winner recently sent a vintage German typewriter to the owners of a small business in Portland, Oregon, a couple of years after he first promised to do so.

“Two years ago, Tom Hanks told me he’d send me a typewriter,” wrote Antony Valloppy, owner of Type Space, in an Instagram post on September 12. “Today, that promise finally made it to my desk. A personal machine signed directly by Mr. Hanks himself.”

Valloppy shared a photo of himself with the unique gift along with a snapshot of his encounter with the actor during a visit in 2023.

“When he stopped by the shop, we had a great time discussing typewriters and their unique features,” Valloppy recounted on Instagram. “He kept his word, albeit a little fashionably late, and sent along this beauty.”

Valloppy opened his shop in 2021, and he first met Hanks when the “Forest Gump” star visited the area during a book tour for another project. They chatted about typewriters before Hanks bought an antique one and promised to send a signed model from his collection to Valloppy.

After some months passed without a delivery, Valloppy admitted he “forgot about it,” according to reports.

Recently, the store owner reached out to Hanks’ management for an unrelated reason, which led to the realization that the gift had never been sent.

The signed typewriter, a 1955 Rheinmetall, arrived at Valloppy’s doorstep, bringing a mix of excitement and relief.

“Sorry, Collector—this is a treasure!” Valloppy shared in his Instagram post. “Come by and share the joy; it’s not every day you can say, ‘Yeah, Tom Hanks sent me a typewriter.’”

Hanks has a collection of over 300 typewriters dating back to the early 1900s. Earlier this year, he lent 35 of them for an exhibition at Sag Port Church.

This isn’t the first time the “Philadelphia” star has gifted one of these types of machines. In 2020, he sent a typewriter to student Corona Devry, including a note suggesting the young recipient ask adults for help in figuring out how to use it and to write back.

Interestingly, Hanks and his wife, actress Rita Wilson, spent a few weeks in quarantine in Australia after contracting Covid-19 in March 2020.