Tom Hanks was in his trailer on the set of “News of the World” in 2020 when his assistant walked in, holding a folded note. The message was simple: a man named James Mallory, a former high school teacher from Ohio, was dying of pancreatic cancer. His daughter, Emily, had reached out through multiple fan forums and Twitter, hoping someone might get a message to Hanks. Her father’s final wish was to hear Forrest Gump’s voice one last time.

The request hit Hanks hard. He paused, reread the note, then quietly asked his assistant to find a contact number. Within an hour, he was holding a phone, listening to it ring on speaker in a small hospice room 2,000 miles away. Emily had no idea if the message had gotten through, and when her phone lit up with a California number, she almost ignored it. But something made her answer.


“Hello, is this Emily Mallory?” the familiar voice asked.

She froze. “Yes?”

“This is Tom Hanks. I heard your dad wants to talk to Forrest Gump. Is he around?”

The room went silent. Her mother gasped. Nurses paused in the hallway. Emily rushed to her father’s bedside and gently placed the phone near his ear. James was weak, he hadn’t spoken much in days. But when Hanks shifted into Forrest’s voice and said, “Hi, James… Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates,” a faint smile spread across the old man’s lips.

Tears streamed down Emily’s face. Her father, barely able to speak, mouthed, “Thank you.”

Hanks continued in Forrest’s slow Southern drawl, weaving personal comfort with signature Gump wisdom. “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.”

For a few precious minutes, James was no longer a cancer patient in a hospital bed. He was listening to his favorite character, the one who helped him through his divorce, who kept him company through nights of grading papers alone, who made him laugh even when life seemed unforgiving.

What made the moment even more powerful was that Hanks never slipped out of character. He addressed James as Forrest would have, comforting him not as a celebrity to a fan, but as a kind-hearted friend on a park bench. James held Emily’s hand, a tear rolling down his temple, and whispered, “Best day… ever.”

Emily would later describe that moment as “a miracle in slow motion.” Her father passed away quietly the next morning, still smiling.

Hanks never mentioned the call publicly. No social media post, no press release. Emily shared the story on a grief support page a month later. A user on Reddit reposted it, and from there, it spread, touching thousands who had grown up with Forrest Gump’s voice in their ears and kindness in their hearts.

A hospice nurse who had witnessed the call said she’d never seen a patient’s face change so quickly. “He was so tired, so far gone. But when he heard Forrest Gump, something lit up inside him.”

Emily keeps the phone recording to this day. She plays it sometimes, not just to hear her father’s last conversation, but to remind herself what simple kindness from a stranger, no matter how famous, can mean to someone facing the end.

In the quietest room, a voice from a film brought peace where medicine could not.