Robin Williams

This article is about the American stand-up comedian and actor. For other uses, see Robin Williams (disambiguation).

Robin Williams

Williams in 2011
Born Robin McLaurin Williams
(1951-07-21)July 21, 1951
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died August 11, 2014(2014-08-11) (aged 63)
Paradise Cay, California, U.S.
Cause of death Suicide by hanging
Occupation Actor, comedian
Years active 1976–2014
Spouse(s)
Children 3, including Zelda Williams

Comedy career

Medium Stand-up comedy, film, television
Genres Observational comedy, improvisational comedy, character comedy, self-deprecation, surreal humor
Influences Jonathan Winters,[1][2] Warner Bros. Cartoons,[3] Dudley Moore,[4] Peter Sellers,[4] Peter Cook[4]
Influenced Conan O'Brien, Frank Caliendo,[5] Dat Phan, Jo Koy, Gabriel Iglesias, Alexei Sayle, Eddie Murphy[6]
Website Official website

Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951 – August 11, 2014)[7] was an American actor and comedian. Starting as a stand-up comedian in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, he is credited with leading San Francisco's comedy renaissance.[8] After rising to fame as Mork in the sitcom Mork & Mindy (1978–82), he went on to establish a career in both stand-up comedy and feature film acting. He was known for his improvisational skills.[9][10]

After his film debut in the musical comedy Popeye (1980), he starred or co-starred in widely acclaimed films, including the comedy-drama The World According to Garp (1982), war comedy Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), dramas Dead Poets Society (1989) and Awakenings (1990), comedy-drama The Fisher King (1991), the animated musical-fantasy Aladdin (1992), drama Good Will Hunting (1997), and psychological thriller One Hour Photo (2002), as well as financial successes such as the fantasy adventure film Hook (1991), comedy Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), fantasy adventure Jumanji (1995), comedy The Birdcage (1996), and the Night at the Museum trilogy.

In 1998, Williams won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Dr. Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. He also received two Primetime Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Grammy Awards throughout his career, and was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2009.

Early life

Childhood

Williams was born at St. Luke's Hospital[11] in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (1922–2001), was a former model from Jackson, Mississippi, whose great-grandfather was Mississippi senator and governor Anselm J. McLaurin.[12] Williams's father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a senior executive in Ford Motor Company's Lincoln-Mercury Division.[13][14] Williams had two elder half-brothers, Robert and McLaurin.[15][16] While his mother was a practitioner of Christian Science, Williams was raised as an Episcopalian[17][18] and later authored a comedic list, "Top Ten Reasons to be an Episcopalian".[19] During a TV interview on Inside the Actors Studio in 2001, he credited his mother as being an important early influence for his sense of humor, noting also that he tried to make her laugh to gain attention.[20]

Williams attended public elementary school at Gorton Elementary School (now Gorton Community Center) and middle school at Deer Path Junior High School (now Deer Path Middle School),[21] both in Lake Forest, Illinois. He described himself as a quiet and shy child who did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his high school drama department.[22] Williams's friends recall him as being very funny.[21] In late 1963, when Williams was twelve, his father was transferred to Detroit. They lived in a 40-room farmhouse on 20 acres[13] in suburban Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he was a student at the private Detroit Country Day School.[21][23] He excelled in school, where he was on the school's soccer team and wrestling team, and became class president.[24]

As Williams's father was away much of the time and his mother also worked, he was attended to by the family's maid, who was his main companion. When Williams was 16, his father took early retirement and the family moved to Tiburon, California.[13][25][26] Following the move, Williams attended Redwood High School in nearby Larkspur. At the time of his graduation in 1969, he was voted "Most Likely Not to Succeed" and "Funniest" by his classmates.[27]

College and Juilliard School

After high school graduation, Williams enrolled at Claremont Men's College in Claremont, California to study political science, then later dropped out to pursue acting.[13][28] Williams then studied theatre for three years at the College of Marin, a community college in Kentfield, California. According to Marin drama professor James Dunn, the depth of Williams's talent first became evident when he was cast in the musical Oliver! as Fagin. Williams was known to improvise during his time in Marin's drama program, putting cast members in hysterics.[29] Dunn called his wife after one late rehearsal to tell her that Williams "was going to be something special."[29]

In 1973, Williams attained a full scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York City. He was one of only 20 students accepted into the freshman class and one of only two students to be accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program at the school that year; the other was Christopher Reeve. William Hurt and Mandy Patinkin were also classmates.[30][31] According to Jean Dorsinville, classmate Franklyn Seales was Williams's roommate at Juilliard.[32] Reeve remembered his first impression of Williams when they were two new students at Juilliard: "He wore tie-dyed shirts with track suit bottoms and talked a mile a minute. I'd never seen so much energy contained in one person. He was like an untied balloon that had been inflated and immediately released. I watched in awe as he virtually caromed off the walls of the classrooms and hallways. To say that he was 'on' would be a major understatement."[31]

Williams and Reeve had a class in dialects taught by Edith Skinner, who, Reeve said, was one of the world's leading voice and speech teachers. Skinner had no idea what to make of Williams, adds Reeve, as he [Williams] could instantly perform in many dialects, including Scottish, Irish, English, Russian, and Italian. Their primary acting teacher was Michael Kahn, who was "equally baffled by this human dynamo," notes Reeve. Williams already had a reputation for being funny, but Kahn sometimes criticized his antics as simple stand-up comedy. In a later production, Williams silenced his critics with his convincing role of an old man in The Night of the Iguana, by Tennessee Williams. "He simply was the old man," observed Reeve. "I was astonished by his work and very grateful that fate had thrown us together."[31]

Williams and Reeve remained close friends until Reeve's death in 2004, following his having become a quadriplegic after a horse-riding accident.[31]:16 Zak, Williams's son, said they were like brothers in their friendship.[33] Williams paid many of Reeve's medical bills and gave financial support to his family.[31][34]

Williams left Juilliard[35][36] during his junior year in 1976 at the suggestion of Houseman, who said there was nothing more Juilliard could teach him.[30][37] His teacher at Juilliard, Gerald Freedman, notes that Williams was a "genius," and the school's conservative and classical style of training did not suit him, therefore no one was surprised that he left.[38]

Career

Stand-up comedy

Williams performing stand-up comedy at a USO show on December 20, 2007

After his family moved to Marin County, Williams began his career doing stand-up comedy shows in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1970s. His first performance took place at the Holy City Zoo, a comedy club in San Francisco, where he worked his way up from tending bar to getting on stage.[39] In the 1960s, San Francisco was a center for a rock music renaissance, hippies, drugs, and a sexual revolution, and in the 1970s, Williams helped lead its "comedy renaissance," writes critic Gerald Nachman.[8]:6 Williams says he found out about "drugs and happiness" during that period, adding that he saw "the best brains of my time turned to mud,"[30] (a humorous mis-para-phrasing of the opening of Howl by Allen Ginsberg).

In the early 1970s Williams also worked as a mime and was photographed by Daniel Sorine while performing in 1974 in Central Park.[40]

He moved to Los Angeles and continued doing stand-up shows at various clubs, including the Comedy Club, in 1977, where TV producer George Schlatter saw him. Schlatter, realizing that Williams would become an important force in show business, asked him to appear on a revival of his Laugh-In show. The show aired in late 1977 and became his debut TV appearance.[30] Williams also performed a show at the LA Improv that same year for Home Box Office.[41] While the Laugh-In revival failed, it led Williams into a career in television, during which period he continued doing stand-up at comedy clubs, such as the Roxy, to help him keep his improvisational skills sharp.[30][42]

Early influences

Williams has credited other comedians with having influenced and inspired him, including Jonathan Winters, Peter Sellers, Nichols and May, and Lenny Bruce. He attributed their influence to their ability to attract a more intellectual audience by using a higher level of wit.[8]:43 He also liked Jay Leno for his quickness in ad-libbing comedy routines, and Sid Caesar, whose acts he felt were "precious."[43] Jonathan Winters became his "idol" early in life; Williams first saw him on television at age 8 and paid him homage in interviews throughout his career.[8]:259[44] Williams was inspired by Winters's ingenuity, realizing, he said, "that anything is possible, that anything is funny. . . He gave me the idea that it can be free-form, that you can go in and out of things pretty easily."[8]:260

Williams performing at a United Service Organizations holiday show held for the Aviano Air Base community on December 22, 2007

During an interview in London in 2002, he told Sir Michael Parkinson that Peter Sellers was an important influence, especially his multi-character roles in Dr. Strangelove: "It doesn't get better than that." Williams owned a rare recording of Sellers's early radio Goon Shows. British comedy actors Dudley Moore and Peter Cook were also among his influences, he told Parkinson.[45] Williams was also influenced by Richard Pryor's fearless ability to talk about his personal life on stage, with subjects including his use of drugs and alcohol, and Williams added those kinds of topics during his own performances. By bringing up such personal matters as a form of comedy, he told Parkinson, it was "cheaper than therapy" and gave him a way to release his pent up energy and emotions.[8]:121

Televised live performances

Williams won a Grammy Award for the recording of his 1979 live show at the Copacabana in New York, "Reality...What a Concept". Some of his later tours, after he became a TV and film star, include An Evening With Robin Williams (1982), Robin Williams: At The Met (1986) and Robin Williams Live on Broadway (2002). The latter broke many long-held records for a comedy show. In some cases, tickets were sold out within thirty minutes of going on sale.[46] In 1986, Williams released A Night at the Met.[47]

After a six-year break, in August 2008, Williams announced a new 26-city tour titled "Weapons of Self-Destruction". He said that this was his last chance to make jokes at the expense of the Bush administration, but by the time the show was staged, only a few minutes covered that subject. The tour started at the end of September 2009 and concluded in New York on December 3, and was the subject of an HBO special on December 8, 2009.[48]

Hardships in performing stand-up

Williams said that partly due to the stress of doing stand-up, he started using drugs and alcohol early in his career. He further said that he never drank or took drugs while on stage but occasionally performed when ill with a hangover from the previous day. During the period he was using cocaine, he said that it made him paranoid when performing on stage.[43]

Williams once described the life of stand-up comedians:

It's a brutal field, man. They burn out. It takes its toll. Plus, the lifestyle—partying, drinking, drugs. If you're on the road, it's even more brutal. You gotta come back down to mellow your ass out, and then performing takes you back up. They flame out because it comes and goes. Suddenly they're hot, and then somebody else is hot. Sometimes they get very bitter. Sometimes they just give up. Sometimes they have a revival thing and they come back again. Sometimes they snap. The pressure kicks in. You become obsessed and then you lose that focus that you need.[8]:34–35

Some, such as the critic Vincent Canby, were concerned that Williams's monologues were so intense that it seemed as though at any minute his "creative process could reverse into a complete meltdown".[43] But Williams felt secure he could not run out of ideas as the constant change in world events would keep him supplied.[43] He also explained that he often used free association of ideas while improvising in order to keep audience interest.[49] Williams noted that the competitive comedy club atmosphere could cause problems. For example, some comedians accused him of intentionally copying their jokes, although Williams strongly denied ever doing so.[43] Whoopi Goldberg explained that it is difficult for comedians to not pick up and reuse another comedian's material, and that it is done "all the time."[50] He later avoided going to performances of other comedians to deter similar accusations.[50]

During a Playboy magazine interview in 1992, Williams was asked whether he ever feared losing the ability to speak openly about those kinds of events and subjects, and admitted that he would, "if I felt like I was becoming not just dull but a rock, that I still couldn't spark, still fire off or talk about things." While he attributed the recent suicide of novelist Jerzy Kosiński to his fear of losing his creativity and sharpness, Williams felt he could overcome those risks. For that, he credited his father, who he said gave him self-confidence, telling him to never be afraid of talking about subjects which were important to him.[43]

Television career

Robin Williams in 1979. The photo was taken by Michael Dressler and used for the March 12, 1979 cover of Time magazine. It was installed in the National Portrait Gallery to commemorate Williams after his death.

After the Laugh-In revival and appearing in the cast of The Richard Pryor Show on NBC, Williams was cast by Garry Marshall as the alien Mork in a 1978 episode of the hit TV series Happy Days.[30][51] Williams impressed the producer with his quirky sense of humor, when he sat on his head when asked to take a seat for the audition.[52] As Mork, Williams improvised much of his dialogue and physical comedy, speaking in a high, nasal voice. Mork's appearance was so popular with viewers that it led to the spin-off hit television sitcom Mork & Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982; the show was written to accommodate Williams's improvisations. Although he portrayed the same character as in Happy Days, the series was set in the present in Boulder, Colorado instead of the late 1950s in Milwaukee. Mork & Mindy, at its peak, had a weekly audience of 60 million, and was credited with turning Williams into a "superstar."[30] According to critic James Poniewozik, the series was especially popular among young people, as Williams became a "man and a child, buoyant, rubber-faced, an endless gusher of invention."[53]

Mork became an extremely popular character, featured on posters, coloring books, lunch-boxes, and other merchandise.[54] Mork & Mindy was such a success in its first season that Williams appeared on the March 12, 1979, cover of Time magazine, then the leading news magazine in the U.S.[55][56] The cover photo, taken by Michael Dressler in 1979, is said to have "[captured] his different sides: the funnyman mugging for the camera, and a sweet, more thoughtful pose that appears on a small TV he holds in his hands" according to Mary Forgione of the Los Angeles Times.[57] This photo was installed in the National Portrait Gallery in the Smithsonian Institution shortly after Williams's death, in order to allow visitors to pay their respects.[57] Williams was also on the cover of the August 23, 1979, issue of Rolling Stone magazine, with the cover photograph taken by famed photographer Richard Avedon.[58][59]

Starting in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Williams began to reach a wider audience with his stand-up comedy, including three HBO comedy specials, Off the Wall (1978), An Evening with Robin Williams (1982), and Robin Williams: Live at the Met (1986). Also in 1986, Williams co-hosted the 58th Academy Awards.[60]

Williams was also a regular guest on various talk shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson[61] and Late Night with David Letterman, on which he appeared 50 times. Letterman, who knew Williams for nearly 40 years, recalls seeing him first perform as a new comedian at the Comedy Store in Hollywood, where Letterman and other comedians had already been doing stand-up. "He came in like a hurricane," said Letterman, who said he then thought to himself, "Holy crap, there goes my chance in show business."[62]

Williams' stand-up work was a consistent thread through his career, as seen by the success of his one-man show (and subsequent DVD) Robin Williams: Live on Broadway (2002). He was voted 13th on Comedy Central's list "100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time" in 2004.[63]

Williams and Billy Crystal were in an unscripted cameo at the beginning of an episode of the third season of Friends.[64] His many TV appearances included an episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway?,[65] and he starred in an episode of Law and Order: SVU. In 2010, he appeared in a sketch with Robert De Niro on Saturday Night Live, and in 2012, guest-starred as himself in two FX series, Louie and Wilfred.[66] In May 2013, CBS started a new series, The Crazy Ones, starring Williams,[67] but the show was canceled after one season.[68]

Film career

Williams's first film was the 1977 low-budget comedy Can I Do It... 'Til I Need Glasses?. His first major performance was as the title character in Popeye (1980); though the film was a commercial flop, the role allowed Williams to showcase the acting skills previously demonstrated in his television work.[69][70] He also starred as the leading character in The World According to Garp (1982), which Williams considered "may have lacked a certain madness onscreen, but it had a great core".[39] Williams continued with other smaller roles in less successful films, such as The Survivors (1983) and Club Paradise (1986), though he felt these roles did not help advance his film career.[39]

His first major break came from his starring role in director Barry Levinson's Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), which earned Williams a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.[51] The film takes place in 1965 during the Vietnam War, with Williams playing the role of Adrian Cronauer, a radio "shock jock" who keeps the troops entertained with comedy and sarcasm. Williams was allowed to play the role without a script, improvising most of his lines. Over the microphone, he created voice impressions of people, including Walter Cronkite, Gomer Pyle, Elvis Presley, Mr. Ed and Richard Nixon.[39] "We just let the cameras roll," said producer Mark Johnson, and Williams "managed to create something new for every single take."[71]

Williams and Yola Czaderska-Hayek at the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990

Many of his later roles were in comedies tinged with pathos.[72] Williams' roles in comedy and dramatic films garnered him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (for his role as a psychologist in Good Will Hunting),[51] as well as two previous Academy Award nominations (for playing an English teacher in Dead Poets Society (1989), and for playing a troubled homeless man in The Fisher King (1991)).[51] In 1991, he played an adult Peter Pan in the movie Hook, although he said that he had to lose twenty-five pounds.[73]

Other roles Williams had in acclaimed dramatic films include Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Awakenings, (1990) and What Dreams May Come (1998).[74] In the 2002 film Insomnia, Williams portrayed a writer/killer on the run from a sleep-deprived Los Angeles policeman (played by Al Pacino) in rural Alaska.[75] Also in 2002, in the psychological thriller One Hour Photo, Williams played an emotionally disturbed photo development technician, who becomes obsessed with a family for whom he has developed pictures for a long time.[76] The last movie starring Williams, released during during his own lifetime, was The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, a film addressing the value of life. In it, Williams played Henry Altmann, a terminally ill man who reassesses his life and works to redeem himself.

Among the actors who helped him during his acting career, he credited Robert De Niro, from whom he learned the power of silence and economy of dialog when acting, to portray the deep-driven man. From Dustin Hoffman, with whom he co-starred in Hook, he learned to take on totally different character types, and to transform his characters by extreme preparation. Mike Medavoy, producer of Hook, told its director, Steven Spielberg, that he intentionally teamed up Hoffman and Williams for the film, because he knew they wanted to work together, and that Williams welcomed the opportunity of working with Spielberg.[77] Williams benefited from working with Woody Allen, who directed him and Billy Crystal in Deconstructing Harry (1997), as Allen knew that Williams and Crystal had often performed together on stage.[78]

Williams's penetrative acting in the role of a therapist in Good Will Hunting (1997) deeply influenced some real therapists, while also winning him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[79] In Awakenings (1990), Williams played a doctor modeled on Oliver Sacks, who wrote the book on which the film was based. Sacks later said, that the way Williams' mind worked was a "form of genius." In 1989, Williams played a private school teacher in Dead Poets Society, which included a final, emotional scene which some critics said "inspired a generation" and became a part of pop culture.[80] Looking over most of Williams' films, one writer is "struck by the breadth of Williams's roles," and how radically different most were.[81]

Terry Gilliam, who co-founded Monty Python and directed Williams in two of his films, The Fisher King and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), noted in 1992 that Williams had the ability to "go from manic to mad to tender and vulnerable," adding that to him Williams was "the most unique mind on the planet. There's nobody like him out there."[43]

Williams at the Australian premiere of Happy Feet Two on December 4, 2011

During his career, he starred as a voice actor in several animated films. His voice role as the Genie in Disney's Aladdin (1992) was written specifically for Williams. The film's directors stated that they took a risk by writing the role, and successfully convinced him to take it.[82] Through approximately 30 hours of tape,[13] Williams was able to improvise much of his dialogue and impersonated dozens of celebrity voices, including Ed Sullivan, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Groucho Marx, Rodney Dangerfield, William F. Buckley, Peter Lorre, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Arsenio Hall.[83] At first, Williams refused to take the role since it was a Disney movie, and he did not want the studio profiting by selling toys and novelty items based on the movie. He accepted the role with certain conditions: "I'm doing it basically because I want to be part of this animation tradition. I want something for my children. One deal is, I just don't want to sell anything—as in Burger King, as in toys, as in stuff."[84] The film went on to become one of his most recognized and best loved roles, and was the highest grossing film of 1992, winning numerous awards, including a Golden Globe for Williams; Williams' performance as the Genie led the way for other animated films to incorporate actors with more star power for voice acting roles.[85]

Williams continued to provide voices in other animated films, including FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Robots (2005), Happy Feet (2006), an uncredited vocal performance in Everyone's Hero (2006), and Happy Feet Two (2011). He also voiced the holographic Dr. Know character in the live-action film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). He was the voice of The Timekeeper, a former attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort, about a time-traveling robot who encounters Jules Verne and brings him to the future.[86]

Williams was a devoted fan of Isaac Asimov, and his interest in Asimov was reflected in his selection of the lead role in the 1999 film Bicentennial Man, the story of a robot that seeks to become human over 200 years, which was based on the 1976 Asimov short story The Bicentennial Man.[87][88] In 2006, he starred in The Night Listener, a thriller about a radio show host who realizes that a child with whom he has developed a friendship may or may not exist. That year, he starred in five movies, including Man of the Year,[74] was the Surprise Guest at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards[89] and appeared on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition that aired on January 30, 2006.[90]

At the time of his death in 2014, Williams had appeared in four movies not yet released: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, A Merry Friggin' Christmas, Boulevard, and Absolutely Anything.[91] Williams was also set to reprise his role in a permanently shelved sequel to the film Mrs. Doubtfire (1993).[92]

Theater work

Williams performing at the 2008 USO World Gala in Washington, D.C. on October 1, 2008
Williams and Garces at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989
Williams speaking at the 2008 BBC World Debate
Williams performing at an all-hands gathering board Naval Support Activity Bahrain on December 19, 2003

Williams appeared opposite Steve Martin at Lincoln Center in an off-Broadway production of Waiting for Godot in 1988.[93][94] He made his Broadway acting debut in Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on March 31, 2011.[95] He headlined his own one-man show, Robin Williams: Live on Broadway, that played at the Broadway theatre in July 2002.[96]

Personal life

Marriages and children

Williams married his first wife Valerie Velardi in June 1978, following a live-in relationship with comedian Elayne Boosler.[97] Velardi and Williams met in 1976 while he was working as a bartender at a tavern in San Francisco. Their son Zachary Pym "Zak" Williams was born in 1983.[98] Williams and Velardi divorced in 1988.[99]

On April 30, 1989, he married Marsha Garces, Zachary's nanny, who was pregnant with his child. They had two children, Zelda Rae Williams (born 1989) and Cody Alan Williams (born 1991). In March 2008, Garces filed for divorce from Williams, citing irreconcilable differences.[100][101] Their divorce was finalized in 2010.[102] Williams married his third wife, graphic designer Susan Schneider, on October 22, 2011, in St. Helena, California.[103]

Williams stated, "My children give me a great sense of wonder. Just to see them develop into these extraordinary human beings."[104]

Other interests

Williams was a member of the Episcopal Church.[105] He described his denomination in a comedy routine as "Catholic Lite—same rituals, half the guilt."[106] He has also described himself as an "honorary Jew,"[107] and on Israel's 60th Independence Day in 2008, he appeared in Times Square, along with several other celebrities to wish Israel a happy birthday.[108]

Williams became a devoted cycling enthusiast, having taken up the sport partly as a substitute for drugs. Eventually, he accumulated a large bicycle collection of his own and became a fan of professional road cycling, often traveling to racing events, such as the Tour de France.[109][110]

Philanthropy

In 1986, Williams teamed up with Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal to found Comic Relief USA, an annual HBO television benefit devoted to the homeless, which has raised US$80 million, as of 2014.[111] Bob Zmuda, creator of Comic Relief, explains that Williams felt blessed because he came from a wealthy home, but wanted to do something to help those less fortunate.[112] Williams made benefit appearances to support literacy and women's rights, along with appearing at benefits for veterans. He was a regular on the USO circuit, where he traveled to 13 countries and performed to approximately 100,000 troops.[113] After his death, the USO thanked him "for all he did for the men and women of our armed forces."[114]

Williams and his second wife Marsha founded the Windfall Foundation, a philanthropic organization to raise money for many charities. In December 1999, he sang in French on the BBC-inspired music video of international celebrities doing a cover of The Rolling Stones' "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" for the charity Children's Promise.[115]

In response to the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, he donated all proceeds of his "Weapons of Self Destruction" Christchurch performance to help rebuild the New Zealand city. Half the proceeds were donated to the Red Cross and half to the mayoral building fund.[116] Williams performed with the USO for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.[117]

For several years, Williams supported St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.[118]

Addiction and health problems

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Williams had an addiction to cocaine.[51][119] He was a casual friend of John Belushi,[43] and the sudden death of Belushi, with the birth of his son Zak, prompted him to quit drugs and alcohol: "Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level. The grand jury helped, too."[51] Williams turned to exercise and cycling to help alleviate his depression shortly after Belushi's death. According to bicycle shop owner Tony Tom, Williams stated, "cycling saved my life."[120][121][122]

In 2003, he started drinking alcohol again while working on the film The Big White in Alaska.[119] In 2006, he checked himself in to a substance-abuse rehabilitation center in Newberg, Oregon, saying he was an alcoholic.[123][124]

Years afterward, Williams acknowledged his failure to maintain sobriety, but said he never returned to using cocaine, declaring in a 2010 interview "No. Cocaine – paranoid and impotent, what fun. There was no bit of me thinking, 'ooh, let's go back to that.' Useless conversations until midnight, waking up at dawn feeling like a vampire on a day pass. No."[119]

In March 2009, he was hospitalized due to heart problems. He postponed his one-man tour for surgery to replace his aortic valve.[125][126] The surgery was completed on March 13, 2009, at the Cleveland Clinic.[127]

In mid-2014, Williams admitted himself into the Hazelden Foundation Addiction Treatment Center in Lindstrom, Minnesota for treatment related to his alcoholism.[128]

His publicist Mara Buxbaum commented that he was suffering from severe depression before his death.[129] Williams's wife Susan stated that in the period before his death, he had been sober, but was diagnosed with early stage Parkinson's disease, which was something he was "not yet ready to share publicly."[130][131]

Death

Williams committed suicide on August 11, 2014, at his home in unincorporated Paradise Cay, California (15 miles (24 km) north of San Francisco), at the age of 63.[132] In the initial report released on August 12, the Marin County Sheriff's Office deputy coroner stated Williams had hanged himself with a belt and died from asphyxiation.[133][134][135] It was revealed, following his death, that Williams had been suffering from severe depression, and had been sleeping in a different room from his wife due to restlessness and anxiety caused by his Parkinson's.[136]

The final autopsy report, released in November 2014, affirmed that Williams had committed suicide as initially described.[136] Neither alcohol nor illegal drugs were present, and prescription medications were at therapeutic levels. The report also noted that Williams had been experiencing "a recent increase in paranoia".[137] An examination of his brain tissue revealed the presence of "diffuse Lewy body dementia".[138] Williams's doctors believe that Lewy body dementia "was the critical factor" that led to his suicide.[139] A year later his widow echoed this diagnosis, saying that Williams's suicide was not motivated by depression,[140] but by Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's, saying, "If Robin was lucky, he would've had maybe three years left".[141]

Williams' body was cremated, and his ashes were spread in San Francisco Bay on August 12.[142][143]

Tributes

One of several fan tributes to Williams, this at the steps of the San Francisco Pacific Heights home used for Mrs. Doubtfire

News of Williams's death spread quickly worldwide. The entertainment world, friends, and fans responded to his sudden death through social and other media outlets.[144] His wife, Susan Schneider, said: "I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken."[145] Williams' daughter Zelda responded to her father's death by stating that the "world is forever a little darker, less colorful and less full of laughter in his absence".[146] U.S. President Barack Obama said of Williams: "He was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit."[147][148]

Broadway theaters in New York dimmed their lights for one minute in his honor. Broadway's Aladdin cast honored Williams by having the audience join them in a sing-along of "Friend Like Me", an Oscar-nominated song originally sung by Williams in the 1992 film.[149] Fans of Williams created makeshift memorials at his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[150] and at locations from his television and film career, such as the bench in Boston's Public Garden featured in Good Will Hunting;[151] the Pacific Heights, San Francisco, home used in Mrs. Doubtfire;[152] and the Boulder, Colorado, home used for Mork & Mindy.[153] It was also reported that a book biography of Williams's life was in development, to be written by New York Times writer David Itzkoff.[154]

Williams was memorialized online by Apple, Inc., including sentiments by executives Tim Cook and Phil Schiller, and a dedicated memorial webpage[155] which MacRumors says is a rare distinction shared only by Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, board member Jerry York, and Steve Jobs.[156][157][158][159]

On television, during the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards on August 25, 2014, Billy Crystal presented a tribute to Williams, referring to him as "the brightest star in our comedy galaxy."[160][161] On September 9, 2014, PBS aired a one-hour special devoted to Williams's career,[162] and on September 27, 2014, dozens of leading stars and celebrities held a tribute in San Francisco to celebrate his life and career.[163]

Shortly after his death, Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior all aired the original Aladdin over the course of a week, with a dedicated drawing of the Genie at the end of each airing before the credits.[164]

British heavy metal band Iron Maiden did a tribute to Williams on their 2015 album The Book of Souls with the song "Tears of a Clown". Blizzard Entertainment added a tribute to the game World of Warcraft in the form of a magic lamp that summons a genie named Robin.[165]

As a result of his death, the name "Robin Williams" became the single fastest growing search term on Google in 2014,[166] accompanied by a rise in searches for the phrase "carpe diem", as associated with Dead Poets Society.[167]

In June 2015, the California State Senate approved the renaming of Waldo Tunnel on Highway 101 north of the Golden Gate Bridge to the Robin Williams Tunnel. This came in response to a Change.org petition started in August 2014. The landmark was chosen due to Williams' nearby residency as well as the tunnel's famous rainbow-painted arches which reflect both Williams' colorful suspenders on Mork & Mindy as well as his vibrant personality. Traffic signs for the Robin Williams Tunnel were officially erected March 1, 2016.[168]

Legacy and influence

Williams's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Although Williams was first recognized as a stand-up comedian and television star, he later became known for acting in film roles of substance and serious drama. He was considered a "national treasure" by many in the entertainment industry and by the public.[43][169]

His on-stage energy and improvisational skill became a model for a new generation of stand-up comedians. Many comedians valued the way he worked highly personal issues into his comedy routines, especially his honesty about drug and alcohol addiction, along with depression.[170] According to media scholar Derek A. Burrill, because of the openness with which Williams spoke about his own life, "probably the most important contribution he made to pop culture, across so many different media, was as Robin Williams the person."[170]

Williams's unusual free-form style of comedy became so identified with him that new comedians imitated him. Jim Carrey impersonated his Mork character early in his own career.[171] His high-spirited style has been credited with paving the way for the growing comedy scene which developed in San Francisco. Young comedians felt more liberated on stage by seeing Williams's spontaneous style: "one moment acting as a bright, mischievous child, then as a wise philosopher or alien from outer space."[172] According to Judd Apatow, Williams's rapid-fire improvisational style was an inspiration as well as an influence for other comedians; however, his talent was unique enough that no one else tried to copy it.[173]

As a film actor, Williams's roles often influenced others, both in and out of the film industry. Director Chris Columbus, who directed Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, says that watching him work "was a magical and special privilege. His performances were unlike anything any of us had ever seen, they came from some spiritual and otherworldly place."[174]

Looking over most of Williams's films, Alyssa Rosenberg at The Washington Post was "struck by the breadth of Williams's roles", and how radically different most were, writing that "Williams helped us grow up."[81]

Discography

Awards

All of Williams's comedy albums were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, with all but two winning.

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Rolling Stone Interview" (PDF). 2008. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Jonathan Winters, who influenced Jim Carrey and Robin Williams, among others, dead at 87". National Post. April 12, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  3. ↑ Williams, Robin (November 14, 2006). Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Interview with Conan O'Brien. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Williams, Robin. Robin Williams, Parkinson interview 2002. Interview with Michael Parkinson. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Free Time | Caliendo hopes 'Frank TV' makes good first impression". Pantagraph.com. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  6. ↑ Stated in interview on Inside the Actors Studio
  7. ↑ Sources conflict. The print biographies The Life and Humor of Robin Williams: A Biography and Robin Williams: A Biography give his birth year as 1952. The Robin Williams Scrapbook also gives a birth year as 1952, as does Encyclopædia Britannica. Williams refers to himself as being "55" in an interview published July 4, 2007. Monk, Katherine (July 4, 2007). "Marriage 101 with Robin Williams". Canada.com. He also verifies his date of birth as July 21, 1951 in a fansite interview: Stuurman, Linda. RWF talks with Robin Williams: Proost!, May 25, 2008.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nachman, Gerald (2003). Seriously Funny The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. New York, NY: Pantheon Books. p. 659. ISBN 9780375410307. OCLC 50339527.
  9. ↑ Kahn, Mattie (August 12, 2014). "When Norm Macdonald Met Robin Williams - 'The Funniest Man in The World'". ABC News. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  10. ↑ Raab, Lauren; Parker, Ryan; Loomis, Nicky (August 11, 2014). "Robin Williams, 'funniest man alive,' dead at 63". The Bradenton Herald. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Chicago Native Robin Williams Recalled 'Good Times' Growing Up Here". CBS Local. August 11, 2014. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  12. ↑ Rubenstein, Steve (September 8, 2001). "Laurie Williams – comedian's mother". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 9, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Kornbluth, Jesse (November 22, 1993). "Robin Williams' Change Of Life: Fighting For His Family In His New Film, 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' And In Real Life". New York Magazine (K-III Magazine Corporation). pp. 34–41. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ Shipman, Robert (August 13, 2014). "Genealogy buffs find Williams' roots in Evansville". Washington Times. Archived from the original on August 14, 2014. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  15. ↑ McLellan, Dennis (August 18, 2007). "R. Todd Williams, 69; winery founder, comic's brother". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  16. ↑ Donahue, Michael (December 25, 1991). "Robin Williams' Half-brother Is An All-out Fan". Chicago Tribune. Scripps Howard News Service. Archived from the original on August 14, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  17. ↑ Gristwood, Sarah (June 18, 1998). "Bobbin' Robin". Mail & Guardian Online. Archived from the original on October 4, 2006. Retrieved December 26, 2007.
  18. ↑ Topel, Fred (July 3, 2007). "Robin Williams on License to Wed". CanMag. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2007.
  19. ↑ "Top 10 Reasons to be an Episcopalian (from the comedian Robin Williams, who is an Episcopalian, on a recent HBO special) – Ebb and Flow , the online newsletter of St. Augustine by the Sea Episcopal Church, Santa Monica, California". Saint-augustine.org. September 2002. Archived from the original on October 14, 2002. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  20. ↑ video: "Robin Williams – Inside The Actors Studio", June 10, 2001
  21. 1 2 3 Cullotta, Karen Ann (August 13, 2014). "Robin Williams' childhood in Lake Forest remembered". Chicago Tribune (Sec. 1). p. 7. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014.
  22. ↑ Terry Gross (host) (August 3, 2006). "Robin Williams: 'The Night Listener'". Fresh Air from WHYY (Radio). National Public Radio.
  23. ↑ Moore, Mary Ellen (January 1, 1979). Robin Williams. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 9780448171289. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  24. ↑ Strauss, Valerie (August 11, 2014). "How high school changed Robin Williams' life". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  25. ↑ Weber, Bruce (May 28, 1989). "Robin Williams, the Comic, Confronts Robin Williams, the Actor". New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  26. ↑ Klemesrud, Judy (April 15, 1984). "Robin Williams Dons an Emigre's Guise". New York Times. p. A21. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  27. ↑ Landrum, Gene N. (2007). Paranoia & Power: Fear & Fame of Entertainment Icons. Morgan James Publishing. pp. 30–31. ASIN B008SLGPFW. ISBN 1600372740.
  28. ↑ Golum, Rob (August 12, 2014). "Robin Williams, Oscar Winner, Dies After Hanging Himself". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014.
  29. 1 2 Hansen, Megan (August 11, 2014). "'We knew him as a neighbor': Marin remembers Robin Williams". Marin Independent Journal. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Maslon, Laurence, and Kantor, Michael. Make 'em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, Twelve, 2008 pp. 241–244
  31. 1 2 3 4 5 Reeve, Christopher (1998). Still Me. New York: Random House. pp. 167–172. ISBN 978-0-679-45235-5.
  32. ↑ 'Life of an Artist' Biography of Franklyn Seales (interview with Author). YouTube. August 8, 2011.
  33. ↑ "Robin Williams' son remembers his dad and Christopher Reeve's friendship", Fox News, November 23, 2014
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  35. ↑ Feeney, Nolan (August 12, 2014). "Listen to Robin Williams Talk About His Struggles on a April 26, 2010 Podcast". Time. Archived from the original on September 22, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
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  37. ↑ "For Juilliard, Ex-Student Hams It Up". The New York Times. The Associated Press. May 18, 1991. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  38. ↑ Blair, Caroline (August 12, 2014). "NC Comedian: Robin Williams Was My Hero, My Influence". Time Warner Cable News. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014.
  39. 1 2 3 4 Zehme, Bill (February 25, 1988). "Robin Williams: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone. pp. 29–32. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
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  41. ↑ video: "Young Robin Williams at the Los Angeles Improv, 1977
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  43. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Grobel, Lawrence (January 1992). "Playboy Interview:Robin Williams". Playboy.
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  46. ↑ Lee, Carter (August 11, 2014). "Shazbot Robin Williams: Because we did, in fact, love him". commdiginews.com. Communities Digital News. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
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  49. ↑ video: Robin Williams interview with Sir Michael Parkinson, 2002 on YouTube
  50. 1 2 Giles, Jeff (February 21, 1991). "Robin Williams: Fears of a Clown". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  51. 1 2 3 4 5 6 James Lipton (host) (June 10, 2001). "Robin Williams". Inside the Actors Studio. Season 7. Episode 710. Bravo. Archived from the original on February 4, 2007.
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  56. ↑ "How Robin Williams Went From Unknown To Star in 5 Months". Time. March 12, 1979. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  57. 1 2 Forgione, Mary (August 12, 2014). "The lighter side of Robin Williams, now at National Portrait Gallery". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
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  169. ↑ "Glenn Close on Friend and Colleague: 'Robin Williams Was a World Treasure'", Showbiz411, August 13, 2014
  170. 1 2 "Robin Williams: His unscripted riffs were not merely funny, but observant",(+video), Christian Science Monitor, August 12, 2014
  171. ↑ "Jim Carrey Impersonates Robin Williams" on YouTube
  172. ↑ Rappoport, Leon. Punchlines: The Case for Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Humor, Greenwood Publishing (2005) p. 136
  173. ↑ Browne, David. "Robin Williams, 1951-2014", Rolling Stone, September 11, 2014 pp. 38-47
  174. ↑ "Valley native Chris Columbus speaks about life with Robin Williams". vindy.com. August 13, 2014. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  175. ↑ "Robin Williams Discography". Discogs.com. August 14, 2014. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  176. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Did Robin Williams Ever Win an Emmy? Of Course He Did — He Was Ridiculously Talented, After All", Bustle, August 2014
  177. 1 2 3 4 5 "Robin Williams Dies", Grammy.com, August 11, 2014
  178. 1 2 Robin Williams Emmys, Emmys
  179. 1 2 "SAG-AFTRA Statement on the Loss of Robin Williams", SAG-AFTRA, August 11, 2014
  180. ↑ "Emmy Awards Remember Robin Williams", Guardianlv, August 27, 2014

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Robin Williams at Find a Grave

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