麻豆APP

15 Things You Should Know About Robin Williams

Robin Williams was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedies alike, he is regarded as one of the greatest comedians of all time.

Despite his immense success and comedic brilliance, Robin Williams struggled with personal demons, including addiction and depression. He died by suicide in 2014 at the age of 63. His death was a shock to the world and left a void in the entertainment industry. Read more to find out 15 things you should know about Robin Williams.

1. Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois

His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a senior executive in Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury Division. His mother, Laurie McLaurin was a former model from Jackson, Mississippi, whose great-grandfather was Mississippi senator and governor Anselm J. McLaurin.

Williams had two older half-brothers: a paternal half-brother, Robert and a maternal half-brother, McLaurin. While his mother was a practitioner of Christian Science, Williams was raised in his father’s Episcopal faith. During a television interview on Inside the Actors Studio in 2001, Williams credited his mother as an important early influence on his humour, and he tried to make her laugh to gain attention.

2. Williams began performing stand-up comedy during the mid-1970s

, , via Wikimedia Commons

Williams began performing stand-up comedy in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1976. He gave his first performance at the Holy City Zoo, a comedy club in San Francisco, where he worked his way up from tending bar.

Williams moved to Los Angeles and continued performing stand-up at clubs, including The Comedy Store. There, in 1977, he was seen by TV producer George Schlatter, who asked him to appear in a revival of his show Laugh-In. The show aired in late 1977 and was his debut TV appearance. That year, Williams also performed a show at the L.A. Improv for Home Box Office. 

3. Williams rose to fame playing the alien Mork in the ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy

Mork & Mindy is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of Happy Days, My Favorite Orkan, it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterrestrial who comes to Earth from the planet Ork, and Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell, his human friend, roommate, and eventual love interest.

4. Williams received his first leading film role in Popeye

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Popeye is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by Robert Altman and produced by Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions. It is based on E. C. Segar’s Popeye comic character. The script was written by Jules Feiffer, and stars Robin Williams as Popeye the Sailor Man and Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl. Its story follows Popeye’s adventures as he arrives in the town of Sweethaven.

5. Williams attained a full scholarship to the Juilliard School 

He was one of 20 students accepted into the freshman class, and he and Christopher Reeve were the only two accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program at the school that year. William Hurt and Mandy Patinkin were also classmates. According to biographer Jean Dorsinville, Franklyn Seales and Williams were roommates at Juilliard.

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; according to Reeve, Skinner was bewildered by Williams and his ability to instantly perform in many different accents. Their primary acting teacher was Michael Kahn, who was equally baffled by this human dynamo. Williams already had a reputation for being funny, but Kahn criticized his antics as simple stand-up comedy.

6. Williams began to reach a wider audience with his stand-up comedy in the 1980s

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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 (1983), and A Night at the Met (1986). 

In 1986, Williams co-hosted the 58th Academy Awards. Williams was also a regular guest on various talk shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman, on which he appeared 50 times.

7. In 2006, Williams was the Surprise Guest at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards

The Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, also known as the KCAs or Kids’ Choice, is an annual American children’s awards ceremony show produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in March or early April, the show honours the year’s biggest in television, film, music, and sports as voted by viewers worldwide of Nickelodeon networks. Winners receive a hollow orange blimp figurine, a logo outline for much of the network’s 1984鈥�2009 era, which also functions as a kaleidoscope.

8. Williams appeared in an episode of the third season of Friends

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Williams appeared with fellow comedian Billy Crystal in an unscripted cameo at the beginning of an episode of the third season of Friends.

Friends is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, the show revolves around six friends in their 20s and early 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City.

9. Williams鈥� role in director Barry Levinson’s Good Morning, Vietnam earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor

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. The film is set 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. “We just let the cameras roll”, said producer Mark Johnson, and Williams “managed to create something new for every single take”.

10. Williams voiced characters in several animated films

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

His voice role as the Genie in the animated musical Aladdin (1992) was written for him. The film’s directors said they had taken a risk by writing the role. At first, Williams refused the role since it was a Disney movie, and he did not want the studio to profit by selling merchandise 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.鈥�

Williams provided voices in other animated films, including FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Robots (2005), the Happy Feet film franchise (2006-2011), and an uncredited vocal performance in Everyone’s Hero (2006). He also voiced the holographic character Dr. Know 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-travelling robot who encounters Jules Verne and brings him to the future.

11. Williams was part of the West Side YMCA Runners club 

In New York City, Williams was part of the West Side YMCA runners club and showed promising results with 34:21 minutes at a 10K run in Central Park in 1975. His favourite books were the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov, and his favourite book as a child was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which he later shared with his children.

12. Williams was a big fan of anime and collecting figures

His daughter described him as a figurine hoarder; one of his figures was the character Deunan Knute from the anime film Appleseed, which he was a fan of. 

He also liked the film Innocence Ghost in the Shell and received a DVD copy of Paranoia Agent signed by its director, Satoshi Kon.

13. Williams was a devoted cycling enthusiast

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

In 2016, his children donated 87 of his bicycles in support of the Challenged Athletes Foundation and Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

14. Williams identified himself as an Episcopalian

, , via Wikimedia Commons

Williams was raised and sometimes identified himself as an Episcopalian. In a comedy routine, he described his denomination as “I have that idea of Chicago Protestant, Episcopal鈥擟atholic light: half the religion, half the guilt.”

He also described himself as an honorary Jew, 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.

15. Williams died by suicide at age 63

Williams was found dead at his home in Paradise Cay, California, in August 2014, at the age of 63. His death was ruled a suicide. According to Williams’ widow, he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and had been experiencing depression, anxiety, and increasing paranoia.

His autopsy found diffuse Lewy body disease and Lewy body dementia professionals said his symptoms were consistent with dementia with Lewy bodies.

In conclusion, we have established that Williams was a successful stand-up comedian, and he released several live albums. He was known for his ability to improvise and his willingness to take risks on stage. He was also a passionate advocate for mental health awareness, and he spoke openly about his own struggles with addiction and depression.