Robin Williams (1951 - 2014) was an American stand-up comedian and actor known for the speed and invention of his improvisation and for a career that moved between broad comedy and serious drama. [1] He became famous as the alien Mork in the television series Mork & Mindy, starred in films including Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Mrs. Doubtfire and Aladdin, and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting. [2]
Early life and training
Williams was born in Chicago on 21 July 1951 and grew up largely in Michigan and later in Marin County, California, where his family moved after his father's retirement from the motor industry. [1] He studied at Claremont McKenna College and at the College of Marin before winning a scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York, where he trained in the drama division under John Houseman and became a close friend of Christopher Reeve.
Stand-up and television
Returning to California, Williams worked the San Francisco and Los Angeles comedy clubs in the mid-1970s, developing an act built on rapid character changes, voices and free association rather than set routines. [3] A guest appearance as the alien Mork on the sitcom Happy Days led to the spin-off series Mork & Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982 and made him a national figure.
He continued to perform stand-up throughout his career, releasing several albums that won Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, and appeared regularly in televised specials. With Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg he hosted Comic Relief, a series of benefit broadcasts raising funds for homelessness charities, and he performed repeatedly for United States troops deployed overseas. [1]
Film career
Williams's film work began with Popeye in 1980 and The World According to Garp. Good Morning, Vietnam, released in 1987, brought him his first Academy Award nomination, followed by nominations for Dead Poets Society and The Fisher King. [2]
He voiced the Genie in Disney's Aladdin in 1992, largely improvising the role and influencing how animated features used star voices. Mrs. Doubtfire, the following year, was a major commercial success. In 1997 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a therapist in Good Will Hunting. [4]
Later roles included darker parts in One Hour Photo and Insomnia, the Night at the Museum films, and the television series The Crazy Ones. [3]
Death and legacy
Williams spoke publicly about his struggles with addiction and depression at various points in his life. He died on 11 August 2014 at his home in Tiburon, California, at the age of sixty-three; his death was ruled a suicide. [1] An autopsy subsequently found diffuse Lewy body disease, a degenerative neurological condition that had not been correctly diagnosed during his lifetime, and his widow later wrote publicly about the symptoms he had experienced. [4]
Tributes after his death were extensive, and his work has continued to be widely circulated. Beyond the Academy Award he received multiple Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy and Screen Actors Guild awards, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and recognition as a Disney Legend. [2]
