In 2020, while Tom Hanks was on set for News of the World, he was handed a note by his assistant. The note contained a request from a daughter named Emily, whose father, James Mallory, was nearing the end of his battle with pancreatic cancer. James, a former high school teacher from Ohio, had one final wish: to hear the voice of Forrest Gump one last time. Emily had reached out through fan forums and social media, hoping somehow, someone would relay her father’s wish to Hanks.
Hanks was deeply moved by the request. After reading the note, he quietly asked his assistant to find a phone number so he could make the call. Within an hour, he was on the phone, listening to it ring in a hospice room 2,000 miles away. Emily had no idea the call was coming and nearly ignored the unfamiliar number. But something stopped her, and she picked up.
“Hello, is this Emily Mallory?” the voice asked, unmistakably familiar.
“Yes?” she replied, stunned.
“This is Tom Hanks. I heard your dad wants to talk to Forrest Gump. Is he there?”
For a moment, everything froze. Emily rushed to her father’s bedside, placing the phone near his ear. James, too weak to speak much anymore, was still able to recognize the voice. When Hanks, in his famous Forrest Gump drawl, began, “Hi, James… Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates,” a faint smile spread across James’ face.
The room went quiet. Emily’s eyes welled up with tears. For a few moments, her father wasn’t the man fighting cancer; he was hearing from his old friend, the character who had been there through difficult times. Hanks, staying in character, shared words of comfort, just like Forrest would. “I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floatin’ around accidental-like on a breeze… but I think maybe, both is happenin’ at the same time.”
James smiled, his hand holding Emily’s as he mouthed a silent, “Thank you.” The call brought him peace in a way nothing else could.
Emily later described the experience as “a miracle in slow motion.” Her father passed away peacefully the next morning, still smiling. Hanks never publicly spoke about the call. No press releases, no posts. It wasn’t until a month later that Emily shared the story on a grief support page. From there, it spread, touching thousands who had grown up with the warmth of Forrest Gump’s voice.
A hospice nurse who had witnessed the call later said she’d never seen a patient’s demeanor change so drastically. “He was so tired, so far gone. But when he heard Forrest Gump, something inside him lit up.”
Emily still keeps the recording of that call. She listens to it not just to remember her father’s last conversation but to remind herself of how a simple act of kindness can make all the difference. Even in life’s darkest moments, a voice from a movie can bring comfort where nothing else can.
