Just because Colin Hanks only met Luke Perry once doesn’t mean he didn’t make a significant impact on his life.
Yesterday, the Life in Pieces actor, 41, joined a slew of celebrities paying tribute to the Riverdale star, who sadly passed away after suffering a massive stroke at age 52.
Hanks shared a photo of Perry on his personal Instagram account and wrote a caption describing the first (and only) time he met the Beverly Hills, 90210 actor.
“My wife and I are on a plane back from Mexico,” he wrote. “Couple of rows ahead of us, these two brothers, young kids, are beating the hell out of each other. Their poor parents are powerless to stop the crying, yelling and screaming.”
He went on to explain how Perry came into the picture, adding, “Out of nowhere, a man comes from first class. Hat, beard, sunglasses, blowing up a balloon. He ties it off, hands it off like he’s holding out a sword to a king. Kneeling, Head down, arms up. Kids calm down in milliseconds. Plane damn near bursts into applause. 15 minutes longer and it probably would have started WWIII, but we landed before that could happen.”
When Hanks was in line for customs, he realized the “balloon hero” was Perry.
“As luck would have it, we end up standing next to each other,” he continued. “He tells me he always flies with a couple of balloons for that very reason, to give to screaming kids. Don’t know if that’s true, but have no reason to believe it wasn’t. Guy seemed like a true gent. Gone way too damn soon. Also, I’ll be damned if I don’t start traveling with some spare balloons.”
Us, too, Colin. Us, too.
