An Emotional Tribute to a Friend
- "We were molecularly connected," actor Tom Hanks said of his late friend and fellow actor Peter Scolari, who passed last month from cancer.
- Scolari and Hanks worked on the TV show Bosom Buddies from 1980 to 1982.
- Whether it’s a spouse, a family member or a friend, grief is inevitable when you're forced to say goodbye to a loved one, especially if you're losing that person to cancer.
Hanks, who co-starred in the 1980s sitcom Bosom Buddies with Scolari, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday night to promote his new movie, Finch. While on the nighttime show, Hanks shared many stories from the two Bosom Buddies seasons he starred in alongside Scolari from 1980 to 1982.
Read More"I'll miss him every day," Hanks added.
In addition to Bosom Buddies, Scolari appeared in the 1982 sitcom Newhart, the HBO show Girls and many more over the course of his decades-long career. He died on Friday, Oct. 22, in Manhattan at the age of 66. Wright Entertainment, Scolari's management company, confirmed that his cause of death was cancer, according to The New York Times. The type of cancer he had remains unknown.
Tom Hanks Pays Tribute to His Late Friend
Hanks shared many anecdotes of the years he spent working with Scolari, which fostered a wonderful friendship. He even got a bit choked up when a clip from his favorite 1981 Bosom Buddies episode was shown. The clip features their characters stranded in a cabin; the scene exhibits the "ease and affection and just how much fun" they had together.
"We were molecularly connected in a way that we started speaking the same language," Hanks said of his friendship with Scolari.
Cue the waterworks! Hanks began to tear up while watching the clip, and with a shaky voice told Kimmel that "Peter has a lovely family, his wife Tracy, absolutely great kids and we lost him to the emperor of all maladies. So thanks for letting us show that."
Coping With Losing a Loved One to Cancer
Whether it’s a spouse, a family member or a friend, grief is inevitable and essential when you're forced to say goodbye to a loved one, especially if you're losing that person to cancer.
There's no one way to cope, but, in a previous interview with SurvivorNet, widower Doug Wendt shared his thoughts on the grieving process after losing his wife to ovarian cancer.
"We're never gonna move on, I don't even think I want to move on, but I do want to move forward," Wendt says. "That's an important distinction, and I encourage anybody who goes through this journey as a caregiver, and then has to face loss, to think very carefully about how to move forward."
While Hanks wasn't the caregiver for Scolari during her final weeks, the feelings Wendt describes can surely be felt by anyone who has lost a dear friend.
'Therapy Saved My Life': After Losing a Loved One, Don't be Afraid to Ask for Help
Camila Legaspi, in a previous interview with SurvivorNet, shared her own advice on grief after her mother died of breast cancer. For her, therapy made all the difference.
"Therapy saved my life," Legaspi says. "I was dealing with some really intense anxiety and depression at that point. It just changed my life. Because I was so drained by all the negativity that was going on, going to a therapist helped me realize that there was still so much out there for me, that I still had my family, that I still had my siblings."
Contributing: Abby Seaberg
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