Tom Hanks Recalls Ohio Theater Roots

First Published: October 12, 2009 7:47 PM EDT Credit: AP

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Caption Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson are all smiles at the Inaugural Gala of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on October 8, 2009Tom Hanks says he still has fond memories of his first acting job, which kept him working into the early morning changing sets on a high school stage.

Hanks was in Cleveland on Monday to raise money for a new home for the Ohio theater troupe that gave him that early break.

The Oscar winner’s first performances were with the Great Lakes Theater Festival in 1977 at Lakewood High School.

He told WVIZ, a local PBS affiliate, that he remembers not having any money and going to the theater to help change sets for the next day’s show.

Hanks says it was in Cleveland that he started his hobby of collecting old manual typewriters after a repair shop owner refused to fix his plastic portable machine.

That’s when he bought a Swiss-made typewriter that now sells for $695.

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