Tom Hanks thinks he collects typewriters because of his fractured upbringing.
The 63-year-old actor has hundreds of the machines and feels "soothed" by them, and he thinks he finds it reassuring being able to take them wherever he is because, as a child living with his divorced father, he moved house every few months and often lost his possessions on the way.
He said: "I had nothing, actually, that stayed with me all through my life. I don’t have anything from when I was five years old. I don’t have anything from when I was three."
Tom got his first typewriter – which he described as a "hunk of junk" – from a friend when he was 19 but upgraded it after it broke down, and he then invested in another when he lost the second.
He recalled in an interview with the New York Times newspaper: "I said, oh yeah, this is going to stay with me for a while, and I am soothed by it. I’m soothed by having it. I’m soothed by knowing that I can take it anywhere with me."
The ‘Captain Phillips’ actor loves typewriters because "they’re brilliant combinations of art and engineering".
He added: "But art, engineering, and purpose.
"Every machine is as individual as a set of fingerprints. So, every time you type something on a typewriter, it is a one-of-a-kind work of art."
According to the publication, Tom – who has four adult children, two with ex-wife Samantha Lewes and two with spouse Rita Wilson – has started giving away his typewriters now he has stability in his life, and while his collection is now down to 120, he plans to eventually just keep one, an Olivetti Lettera 22.
Tom Hanks soothed by typewriters
