Special Episode: The Contagious Kindness of Tom Hanks

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On this special episode of “The Daily,” a magazine writer for The Times reflects on her experience interviewing Tom Hanks last fall — and on the generosity he showed her in a difficult personal moment. In this time of collective stress, we wanted to bring the story to you in audio as a reminder that “contagion is real, but it doesn’t just work for viruses,” our writer said. “It works for kind words and generous thoughts, and acts of selflessness and honesty.”

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Taffy Brodesser-Akner contributed reporting.

“The Daily” is made by Theo Balcomb, Andy Mills, Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Annie Brown, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Larissa Anderson, Wendy Dorr, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Alexandra Leigh Young, Jonathan Wolfe, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, Adizah Eghan, Kelly Prime, Julia Longoria, Sindhu Gnanasambandan, Jazmín Aguilera, M.J. Davis Lin, Austin Mitchell, Sayre Quevedo, Neena Pathak, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Daniel Guillemette, Hans Buetow, Robert Jimison and Mike Benoist. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Mikayla Bouchard, Stella Tan, Lauren Jackson, Julia Simon, Mahima Chablani and Nora Keller.