Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson’s Friend and Assistant Dies from Pancreatic Cancer; See Their Heartfelt Tribute to the Artist

“Throughout her illness she painted, she saw beauty, she created and she never wavered,” Wilson said. “Even in this first picture, a self portrait of her while undergoing chemo during Covid she still painted. Her paintings are full of light and life, as Sooki was.”

Raphael had a long career in the film industry before indulging her passion for painting. She even worked for Wilson’s husband, Tom Hanks, as his assistant. But in her post, Wilson referred to her as the one thing she was destined to be: an artist.

“[Sooki] was so many things,” Wilson wrote. “Primarily and in her soul she was an artist.”

But her time as Hank’s assistant brought her to a woman who would later become an invaluable friend during her cancer treatment and artistic journey. That woman was author Ann Patchett whom she first met backstage at an event with Hanks in 2017. “Entranced by her velvet coat and kind demeanor,” Patchett knew she wanted to be friends with Raphael. Their close friendship began through email, and would eventually lead to Patchett offering her home to Raphael in early 2020 so she could receive cancer treatment in Nashville. Then as the world was ensnared by a global pandemic, the two friends formed a “pandemic pod.” In a piece for Harper's Magazine called “These Precious Days,” Patchett told the story of their friendship and spoke of her admiration for the paintings Raphael created at her home.

“The paintings came from a landscape of dreams, pattern on pattern, impossible colors leaning into one another. She painted her granddaughter striding through a field of her own imagination, she painted herself wearing a mask, she painted me walking down our street with such vividness that I realized I had never seen the street before,” Patchett wrote. “She brought her paintings upstairs to show us: a person who was too shy to say good night most nights was happy for us to see her work. There was no hesitation on the canvases, no timidity. She had transferred her life into brushwork, impossible colors overlapping, the composition precariously and perfectly balanced. The paintings were bold, confident, at ease. When she gave us the painting she had done of Sparky on the back of the couch, I felt as if Matisse had painted our dog.”

To say that Patchett was impressed is an understatement. And who wouldn’t be given the fact that Raphael didn’t really emerge as an artist until her pancreatic cancer diagnosis in November 2018. In her tribute to Raphael, Wilson pointed to her friend as proof that it is never too late to explore your creative passions.

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“There's no clock on creativity,” Wilson wrote on Instagram. “It's there for us at all times. We love you, Sooki. We miss you. And you will always be in our hearts.”

And despite not having any formal artistic training, Raphael has done very well. Most recently, she had a solo exhibition of paintings at ROSEGALLERY called “These Precious Days,” just like Patchett’s piece. In the press release for the exhibition, ROSEGALLERY said her works used “her colorful palette as an ‘expression of a renewal of spirit and life’ as she healed alongside the scorched landscape of the Malibu and Topanga hills.”

“These Precious Days” is still on view at the gallery until May 10. Like most of her paintings, the artwork from the exhibition is full of color only a soul eager to see the beauty in every day could translate onto canvas. In a recent post made to her official Instagram, the caption echoed this sentiment of Raphael sharing her unique perspective of the world through her art.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sooki Raphael (@sookiraphaelartist)

“What came out of her brush was a feast of colors and stories that she had kept in her heart for years, feelings that were just waiting to explode,” the post read. “And this is how Sooki became part of something bigger than herself, pure art destined to express the beauty and mystery of the world that she could see more than most of us can. She owned beauty because she was beauty, and so she could express it on canvass, or in an email to a friend, or in a prayer to the sun.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sooki Raphael (@sookiraphaelartist)

Turning to Art during Treatment

Raphael turned to art during a tumultuous time in her life and created works that will continue to be enjoyed long after her passing. When undergoing treatment for cancer, looking inward for inspiration can be a very cathartic journey that helps with recovery.

Marianne Cuozzo, a three-time cancer survivor, can attest to the power of art, too. And despite the fact that cancer has essentially been her whole life, Cuozzo has recognized herself as a lot more than a diagnosis by focusing on her life as a mother and an artist.

Three time cancer survivor, Marianna Cuozzo, talks to SurvivorNet about how art helps her express herself

Cuozzo was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1994 at the age of 28. In 1997, she had a recurrence, and then she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014. She had a double mastectomy and originally got implants with reconstruction. But after years of infections, she decided to remove her implants and "go flat." Her artwork reflects a deeply personal exploration of body image and sexuality. In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Cuozzo tells us how she found comfort expressing herself through her work.

“My artwork is very reflective of my cancer journey,” Cuozzo says. "I'm doing the best I can to feel beautiful in this new body."

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