An Australian boy named Corona, who was being bullied because of his moniker, has received a typewriter from his pen pal, Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks.
Corona De Vries, 8, and Hanks, 63, started corresponding earlier this month, Australia’s 7 News reported. De Vries reached out after learning that Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, tested positive for coronavirus while on the Gold Coast.
“Are you OK?” De Vries asked Hanks in a letter dated April 6.
“I love my name but at school people call me ‘the coronavirus.’ I get very sad and angry when people call me this.”
This week, De Vries received a response, a letter along with and a Corona-brand typewriter Hanks used while he was in Australia filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic.
“Your letter made my wife and I feel so wonderful,” Hanks told De Vries in a letter on April 10.
“Thank you for being such a good friend. Friends make their friends feel good when they are down.”
Hanks, who has recovered from the coronavirus and is back in the U.S., noted that the name Corona means “ring around the sun, a crown.”
The typewriter enthusiast then explained his gift to the Australian boy.
“I thought this typewriter would suit you,” Hanks said.
“Ask a grown up how it works. And use it to write me back.”
Hanks, who voiced Sheriff Woody in Disney’s Toy Story movies, signed off with a reference from the franchise’s theme song.
“Ps:,” Hanks wrote: “You’ve got a friend in me!”
