From the Windy City of the American Midwest hailed one of the world’s greatest actor-comedians, Robin McLaurin Williams, cinematically christened simply Robin Williams. Born in one of the most populous cities, Chicago, Illinois, on July 21, 1951, the prolific actor-producer-screenwriter ended his colorful life on Monday, August 11, 2014, by hanging at his home in Paradise Cay near the town of Tiburon, an incorporated town in Marin County, California located across the bay from San Francisco.
Preliminary autopsy result ruled out to be asphyxia or a condition in which an extreme decrease in the amount of oxygen in the body accompanied by an increase of carbon dioxide leads to loss of consciousness or death. He was pronounced dead at 12:02 PM, after emergency responders from the Marin Sheriff’s Office and firefighters from two local fire protection districts arrived.
The authorities also reported that there were cuts along William’s left wrist and that a pocket knife which he apparently used was found close to his body. His body was brought to the Napa County morgue for autopsy since Marin County does not have one.
Who would ever imagine that a popular and well-liked guy who’s been successful in his field would tragically end his own life at 63 and abandon all the fortune and fame he had accumulated through the years just hastily as that? Was it all due to depression?
Early life
Turning back the pages of his life story gives us the minutest clues and details that eventually contributed to why the multi-talented comedian had arrived at this crucial decision.
Williams’ father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a senior executive at Ford Motor Company assigned at the Midwest region while his mother, Laurie McLaurin, was a former model from Jackson, Mississippi. Growing up, young Robin already experienced being bullied that he would constantly change his route way home just to avoid his tormentors. His father, who was away most of the time because of work, frightens him each time they would meet. He had two brothers: Robert Todd Williams and MacLaurin Smith.
At 16 he finished high school from Redwood High, a public school in Woodacre Marin County where they moved after his father seek for an early retirement, and was ironically voted “Most Likely Not To Succeed” and deservingly chosen as the “Funniest.”
He studied Political Science at Claremont McKenna College but later had a change of heart. In 1973 he attained a full scholarship to Juilliard School in New York City but still went back to Claremont to pursue his interest in Theater Arts where his comic talent became evident when he was cast as Fagin in Oliver!.
Being one of the only 20 freshmen students at Juilliard in 1973, he was one among the two accelerated students into the Advanced Program, the other being the equally popular Christopher Reeve, who later became his close friend.
An innately born humorist Williams started his career as a stand-up comedian with basic multi-ethnical ancestry: English, Welsh, Scottish, German, and French left him with no trouble delivering and mastering different dialects.
He first appeared in The Richard Pryor Show on NBC and was cast later as the alien Mork in the 1978 hit TV series Happy Days. He constantly impressed his producers and director with his wit and quick dialogue improvisation with peculiar high nasalized vocal pitch. His moniker became a household name and his popularity led to a spin-off of his character in Mork & Mindy which ran from 1978 to 1982.
Since then Robin Williams esteemed status reached farther to more significant assignments including three HBO comedy specials: Off The Wall (1978), An Evening With Robin Williams (1982), and Robin Williams: Live at the Met (1986). In the same year his comic talent brought him to a much wider audience, co-hosting the 58th Academy Awards where Paul Newman and Marlee Matlin won the Best Actor and Best Actress Awards for “The Color of Money” and “Children of the Lesser Gods,” respectively.
Oscar award-winning actor Robin Williams has had a career far from being evanescent. His unique comedic style is all his own that an attempt to duplicate it will undoubtedly put the copycat into a cavern of shame. He’s known for his wild improvisation of rapid-switching dialogues and gifted with a unique style at imitating voices.
However, in the 1993 hit Mrs. Doubtfire, which raked in more than $400 million, featured Williams as a dad who pretends to be an eccentric elderly housekeeper in order to see his children while they are in his wife’s (Sally Field) custody. Now the producers may be forced to cancel production of the sequel, “Mrs. Doubtfire 2”, since looking for William’s replacement would be tough.
There’s a lot of films, in the can or on the planning stage, which are directly affected by Williams’ untimely demise and one of which is the up-coming “Night at the Museum” which is slated for theater exhibition on December. Then there’s still “Merry Friggin’ Christmas” and “Absolutely Anything.”
But one thing is commonly dominant in the many roles he had played—and that is delineating the characters with mental instability or with a deep capacity for violence or someone lacking self-awareness or suffering from a trauma or loss.
Call it coincidental or premeditated but movie offers that came his way with almost the same characterization wasn’t at all normal. His constantly playing related roles over and over did not only hone his creativity and offered him the full mastery of his craft but unmindfully stuck the very character into his system…and portraying it was just as easy as eating peanuts. Maybe, he no longer saw a border, not even that invisibly thin line, dividing the world of make believe from his own reality.
Williams’ not so private life
For what good is a life without somebody to share your success (and fortune) with. They say comedians are the greatest lovers for they not only make girls laugh but also tickle their hearts.
His first marriage was June 4, 1978 with Valerie Velardi he met in 1976 at a San Francisco tavern but failed to even pass the seven-year-itch stage due to a scandalous extra-marital issue that ended in an out-of-court settlement. The union was blessed with a son, Zachary Pym “Zak” Williams.
In 1989, Williams slipped the wedding ring into the fingers of Filipino-American Marsha Garces, Zachary’s nanny. Together, they have two children: Zelda Rae Williams and Cody Alan Williams. After 19 years of blissful togetherness, Marsha filed a divorce on the ground of irreconcilable differences.
Three years later, Williams took a third wife in the person of graphic designer Susan Schneider.
Classic Robin Williams trivia
Williams appeared fully nude in the films The Fisher King (1991) and The World’s Greatest Dad (2009)
He was a huge fan of The Legend of Zelda series to the extent of naming his daughter after the eponymous character. He became a first father at age 31, the second time when he was 38, and finally when he was 40. He co-owns the Rubicon Restaurant in San Francisco with Robert De Niro and Francis Ford Coppola. He has lent his voices to six animated features: Fern Gully the last Rainforest, Aladdin, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Robots, Happy Feet I and Happy Feet 2. His comic idols are Jonathan Winters and Richard Pryor.
There were several film offers that he turned down: the role of Bobby Wheeler in Taxi (1978) which went to Jeff Conaway; the role of Frank Ginsberg in Little Miss Sunshine (2006) which went to Steve Carell; the role of the Riddler in Batman Forever (1995) which went to Jim Carrey; as Prof. Berlinghoff Rasmussen in an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation (1991) which went to Matt Frewer, as Joe Miller in the movie Philadelphia which went to Denzel Washington, and the first choice for the role of Bob Wiley in What About Bob (1991) which went to Bill Murray
Sadly, his addiction to cocaine and alcohol tremendously affected not only his health but also his career. He has undergone rehabilitation and psychotherapeutic treatment but to no avail since he always return to his old vice after being sober for a period. He turned vegetarian following his heart surgery in 2009 but that neither dampened nor detracted his passion for alcohol and substance abuse.
Truly, laughter is the best medicine but sometimes not even a dose could suffice to relieve the personal pains of those who deliver it. Ironically, a great number of comedians and comediennes are merely laughing in the outside…delivering timely punchlines and hilarious spiels but deep inside they, too, need someone to delight their funny bones that they may also momentarily forget the anguish they’re suffering from and lighten the heavy load that torture them in silence. As they say, comedians are the loneliest people.
Even serious subject didn’t escape his funny antic like when asked by James Lipton about what he would like God to say when he arrived in Heaven, his answer: “There is a seat in front in the concert of Wolfgang Amadeus, Mozart and Elvis Presley.”
Take a haphazard pass on of his famous quotes, which incidentally aptly applied to his personal journey: “I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone.”
But despite his personal issues and monetary problem he made sure that all his three kids’ future was well-assured of with separate trust funds as he’s always being quoted saying: “My children are the things that make my life worth-living.”
May your soul find solace in some distant place where depression isn’t known and be rewarded with things you failed to gain during your turbulent life on earth. Robin McLaurin Williams, aka Mrs. Doubtfire,” you’ll forever be an Icon of Comedy!
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