Tom Hanks has put his love of vintage typewriters to good use. His collection of short stories, "Uncommon Type: Some Stories," has been released on Tuesday.

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The Oscar-winning actor's first book features 17 stories. One of them is about an immigrant arriving in New York City, another about a bowler who becomes a celebrity and still another involves an eccentric billionaire.

Each of the stories involves a different typewriter in some way.

Hanks says he uses a typewriter almost every day to send memos and letters; he owns about 270 typewriters but often gives them away to people who show an interest. "No one is ever going to make the great typewriter ever, ever, ever again," he said in the documentary "California Typewriter," released last August.

Hanks said in a statement that he began writing the stories in 2015 while working on films in New York, Budapest, Berlin and Atlanta. "I wrote in hotels during press tours. I wrote on vacation. I wrote on planes, at home and in the office."

Hanks is best known for his roles in "Forrest Gump," "Philadelphia," and "Apollo 13."

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12 films starring Tom Hanks The guy next door Tom Hanks has become one of American cinema's biggest stars. He's managed to stay scandal-free and has enjoyed quite a picture book career since the 1980s. One of his most unforgettable roles was as the chocolate-loving, long-distance running Forrest Gump in the 1994 film.

12 films starring Tom Hanks Hanks' first big splash Tom Hanks' breakthrough came under water. In 1984, his friend, director Ron Howard, cast him in the romantic comedy, "Splash." Hanks played an unlucky guy who falls in love with a mermaid. While Daryl Hannah stole the show as the mermaid, Hanks proved he could swim with the big shots.

12 films starring Tom Hanks Making it big Four years after "Splash" came the next major step in the California native's career. In "Big," Hanks played a boy who finds himself in the body of a grown man. The film was a box office success and showed Hollywood that Hanks was a lucrative name.

12 films starring Tom Hanks A romantic side In 1993, Hanks revealed his softer side in "Sleepless in Seattle," co-starring Meg Ryan. The two played a couple who fall in love over the phone before they ever meet in person. As Sam Baldwin, a widowed architect looking for love, Hanks showed the world he could master romantic roles as well.

12 films starring Tom Hanks First Oscar for 'Philadelphia' Hanks' next film was a whopper. In "Philadelphia" (1993), he moved viewers to tears as an attorney battling AIDS. It was he first Hollywood film to grapple with such a challenging topic - and brought Hanks an Oscar for Best Actor.

12 films starring Tom Hanks Working with Steven Spielberg When Hanks raked in two Oscars the following year for "Forrest Gump," Hollywood's top producers and directors were fighting over him and the actor could choose his roles carefully. In 1998, he teamed up with friend and director Steven Spielberg and played the lead in the World War II drama "Saving Private Ryan."

12 films starring Tom Hanks Alone on the island Perhaps one of the biggest challenges for an actor is to carry an entire film by themselves. Tom Hanks masters that in "Cast Away," in which he plays a man who survives an airplane crash and lands on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific. The full-length film is nearly a monologue.

12 films starring Tom Hanks Co-starring with Leonardo DiCaprio Steven Spielberg also directed "Catch Me If You Can," where Tom Hanks depicts an FBI investigator who's after a con man played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The pair were the perfect fit: DiCaprio as the charismatic check frauder and Hanks as the honest official.

12 films starring Tom Hanks Stuck at the airport Hanks' next project saw him once again stranded in a threatening environment. In "The Terminal," a comedy directed by Steven Spielberg, Hanks plays a man who is trapped at the JFK airport in New York when he's denied entry into the US but cannot return to his own country due to a military coup.

12 films starring Tom Hanks At sea as Captain Phillips After so much success as an actor, Hanks dabbled a bit in producing and voice-overs. But acting remains his first love. One of his best more recent films is "Captain Phillips" (2013), in which he plays a ship captain who is kidnapped by terrorists.

12 films starring Tom Hanks Tom Hanks in Germany In 2014, Tom Hanks joined Steven Spielberg in Germany to play an attorney in the Cold War drama, "Bridge of Spies." The filming took place at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin - and even Chancellor Angela Merkel stopped by for a visit. The film was released a year later and Hanks is pictured here at its 2015 premiere in Berlin.

12 films starring Tom Hanks Stranded in the desert Another one of Hanks' more recent projects also had a connection to Germany. In German director Tom Tykwer's culture-clash-comedy "A Hologram for the King," Hanks plays a downtrodden salesman who gets stuck in the Middle East. The actor had partnered with Tykwer four years before for the fantasy film "Cloud Atlas." Author: Jochen Kürten / kbm



sh/ct/eg (dpa, AP)