Robin Williams (Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 21, 1951 - Tiburon, California, USA, August 11, 2014)
Williams was one of the best known and most popular comedians as well as drama actors. As a young man he started to study political sciences, but soon gave up and transferred to acting school. He enrolled to the Main College in California where he had studied for three years before he received a scholarship from Juilliard in 1973. There he studied together with Christopher Reeve with whom he remained a close friend all his life. He began his career as a stand-up comedian thanks to his great talent for improvisation. His first roles were in TV series in late 1970’s and he became popular as Mork the alien in the humorous TV series Mork and Mindy (1978-1982). His first leading role was in Robert Altman’s Popeye in 1980. Afterwards he acted in many TV and feature films, such as The World According to Garp (1982) by George Roy Hill starring opposite Glenn Close, comedy Moscow on the Hudson (1984) by Paul Mazursky, The Best of Times (1986) by Roger Spottiswoode and Club Paradise (1986) by Harold Ramis. He attracted the attention of international audiences with his role of a radio DJ in the war drama Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) by Barry Levinson. For that role he won the Golden Globe as Best Actor and received a nomination for an Oscar. He confirmed his talent in Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society (1989) and again received a nomination both for an Oscar and Golden Globe. In 1990, he was given a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Even though his career was in full swing, privately he was experiencing problems caused by his drug and alcohol addiction, which he developed during his career as a stand-up comedian and while filming Mork and Mindy. The 1990’s were his most fruitful period when he acted in some of his most famous films. He starred opposite Robert De Niro in the biographical drama Awakenings (1990) and portrayed a homeless man in Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King (1991) for which he won another Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar. In Steven Spielberg’s Hook (1991) he played Peter Pan as a grown up. His second collaboration with Barry Levinson in the comedy Toys (1992) was less successful, but his next film, comedy Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) by Chris Columbus, for which he won another Golden Globe, was a huge international hit. His next successful films were the family film Jumanji (1995) by Joe Johnston, and comedy The Birdcage (1996), of the French original from 1978. In Coppola’s comedy Jack (1996) he had the leading role and afterwards collaborated with Ivan Reitman on the romantic comedy Fathers' Day (1997) and with Woody Allen on the film Deconstructing Harry (1997). In that same year he starred in the family comedy Flubber (1997), but his most successful role was the one of the benevolent psychologist in Good Will Hunting (1997), for which he finally, after three nominations for an Oscar as Best Actor, won the award as Best Supporting Actor. He accepted very different roles, from a devoted husband in the visually opulent What Dreams May Come (1998), doctor in Patch Adams (1998), Jew in a Warsaw ghetto in Jakob the Liar (1999), to a robot in Bicentennial Man (1999). Even though he was most famous as a comedian, he also portrayed characters with a dark side, such as in One Hour Photo (2002), Insomnia (2002) and The Night Listener (2006). He successfully returned to comedy in Man of the Year (2006). In summer of 2006, he again became addicted to alcohol and went into rehab. In the following year, he returned to the big screen with the comedy License to Wed (2007). Throughout his film career he continued to do lice stand-up acts. After a six years long break, in September of 2008, he started his new stand-up tour entitled "Weapons of Self Destruction", which had to be put on hold in March 2009, due to health problems and finally a heart surgery. After his recovery he returned to acting and starred in several films a year. Some of these films include the comedy World's Greatest Dad (2009), comedy Old Dogs (2009) in which he starred with John Travolta, romantic comedy The Face of Love (2013) starring Annette Benning and Ed Harris and comedy The Angriest Man in Brooklyn (2014). He portrayed Teddy Roosevelt in all three parts of the Night in the Museum (2006, 2009 and 2014), which was his last role (in the last Absolutely Anything he only did a voiceover). One of his last roles was in the TV series The Crazy Ones (2013-2014). For a long time he fought depression and committed suicide at the age of sixty-three after he was diagnosed with the Parkinson’s disease. He will be remembered as a great philanthropist who donated his money and often performed for charity.
Filmography:
Absolutely Anything (2015) (voice, in postproduction)
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)
A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014)
The Angriest Man in Brooklyn (2014)
Boulevard (2014)
The Crazy Ones (2013-2014) (TV series, 22 episodes)
The Face of Love (2013)
The Butler (2013)
The Big Wedding (2013)
Louie (2012) (TV series, 1 episode)
Wilfred (2012) (TV series, 1 episode)
Happy Feet Two (2011) (voice)
Old Dogs (2009)
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
World's Greatest Dad (2009)
Shrink (2009)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2008) (TV series, 1 episode)
August Rush (2007)
License to Wed (2007)
Night at the Museum (2006)
Happy Feet (2006) (voice)
Man of the Year (2006)
Everyone's Hero (2006) (voice, uncredited)
RV (2006)
The Night Listener (2006)
The Big White (2005)
Robots (2005) (voice)
Noel (2004) (uncredited)
House of D (2004)
The Final Cut (2004)
Life with Bonnie (2003) (TV series, 1 episode)
Freedom: A History of Us (2003) (TV series, 4 episode)
Insomnia (2002)
Death to Smoochy (2002)
One Hour Photo (2002)
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) (voice)
Bicentennial Man (1999)
Jakob the Liar (1999)
L.A. Doctors (1999) (TV series, 1 episode)
Patch Adams (1998)
What Dreams May Come (1998)
One Saturday Morning (1998) (TV series, 2 episodes)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Flubber (1997)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Fathers' Day (1997)
Friends (1997) (TV series, 1 episode)
Great Minds Think for Themselves (TV series, 12 episodes)
Hamlet (1996)
The Secret Agent (1996) (uncredited)
Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996) (video, voice)
Jack (1996)
The Birdcage (1996)
Jumanji (1995)
Aladdin on Ice (1995) (TV) (voice, uncredited)
To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995) (uncredited)
Nine Months (1995)
In Search of Dr. Seuss (1994) (TV)
The Larry Sanders Show (1992-1994) (TV series, 2 episodes)
Being Human (1994)
Homicide: Life on the Street (1994) (TV series, 1 episode)
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Toys (1992)
Aladdin (1992) (voice)
From Time to Time (1992) (voice)
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) (voice)
A Wish for Wings That Work (1991) (TV) (voice)
Hook (1991)
The Fisher King (1991)
Dead Again (1991)
Shakes the Clown (1991)
Rabbit Ears: The Fool and the Flying Ship (1991) (video, voice)
Awakenings (1990)
Cadillac Man (1990)
Dead Poets Society (1989)
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Rabbit Ears: Pecos Bill (1988) (video, voice, narrator)
Portrait of a White Marriage (1988) (uncredited)
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1987) (TV, voice)
Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge (1987) (TV)
Seize the Day (1986)
Club Paradise (1986)
The Best of Times (1986)
Pryor's Place (1984) (TV series, 1 episode)
Moscow on the Hudson (1984)
The Survivors (1983)
SCTV Network 90 (1982) (TV series, 1 episode)
Pac Preview Party (1982) (TV, voice)
Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour (1982) (TV series, voice, 1 episode)
Faerie Tale Theatre (1982) (TV series, 1 episode)
The World According to Garp (1982)
Mork & Mindy (1978-1982) (TV series, 94 episode)
Popeye (1980)
Out of the Blue (1979) (TV series, 1 episode)
Happy Days (1978-1979) (TV series, 2 episodes)
America 2-Night (1978) (TV series, 2 episodes)
Eight Is Enough (1977) (TV series, 1 episide)
Laugh-In (1977) (TV series, 1 episode)
The Richard Pryor Show (1977) (TV series, 2 episode)
Can I Do It 'Till I Need Glasses? (1977)