108 Facts About Robin Williams

Robin McLaurin Williams was an American actor and comedian.

Robin Williams received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, five Grammy Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Robin Williams received his first leading film role in Popeye.

Robin Williams won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting.

Robin Williams starred in the critically acclaimed dramas The World According to Garp, Moscow on the Hudson, Awakenings, Insomnia, One Hour Photo, and World's Greatest Dad.

Robin Williams starred in Toys, The Birdcage, and Patch Adams, as well as family films, such as Hook, Mrs Doubtfire, Jumanji, Jack, Flubber, RV, and the Night at the Museum trilogy.

Robin Williams lent his voice to the animated films Aladdin, Robots, Happy Feet, and its 2011 sequel.

Robin Williams was found dead at his home in Paradise Cay, California, in August 2014, at age 63.

Robin Williams's autopsy found "diffuse Lewy body disease", and Lewy body dementia professionals said that his symptoms were consistent with dementia with Lewy bodies.

Robin McLaurin Williams was born at St Luke's Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, on July 21,1951.

Robin Williams's father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a senior executive in Ford's Lincoln-Mercury Division.

Robin Williams's mother, Laurie McLaurin, was a former model from Jackson, Mississippi, whose great-grandfather was Mississippi senator and governor Anselm J McLaurin.

Robin Williams had two older half-brothers: a paternal half-brother, Robert, and a maternal half-brother, McLaurin.

Robin Williams attended public elementary school at Gorton Elementary School in Lake Forest and later Deer Path Junior High School.

Robin Williams described himself as a quiet child who did not overcome his shyness until becoming involved with his high school drama department, while friends recalled him as being very funny.

In late 1963, when Robin Williams was 12, his father was transferred to Detroit.

The family lived in a 40-room farmhouse on 20 acres in suburban Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where Robin Williams attended the private all-boys Detroit Country Day School.

Robin Williams excelled academically, served as class president, and was on the school's wrestling team, but was bullied for his weight and would play at home by himself.

When Robin Williams was 16, his father took early retirement and the family moved to Tiburon, California.

Robin Williams described the school as Gestalt, he went on to join the drama club becoming involved in theater, which first helped foster his interest in arts and entertainment.

Robin Williams studied theater for three years at the College of Marin, a community college in Kentfield, California.

Robin Williams often improvised during his time in the drama program, leaving cast members in hysterics.

Dunn called his wife after one late rehearsal to tell her Robin Williams "was going to be something special".

In 1973, Robin Williams attained a full scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York City.

Robin Williams was one of 20 students accepted into the freshman class, and Williams and Christopher Reeve were the only two accepted by John Houseman for the school's Advanced Program that year.

Robin Williams was like an untied balloon that had been inflated and immediately released.

Robin Williams already had a reputation for being funny, but Kahn criticized his antics as simple stand-up comedy.

Robin Williams left Juilliard during his junior year in 1976, following Houseman's suggestion that the school had nothing more they could teach him.

Robin Williams began performing stand-up comedy in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1976.

Robin Williams moved to Los Angeles and continued performing stand-up at clubs, including The Comedy Store.

Robin Williams took his act overseas and performed at The Fighting Cocks in England.

Robin Williams' first credited film role was a minor part in the 1977 low-budget comedy Can I Do It.

However, his first starring performance was as the title character in Popeye, in which Robin Williams showcased the acting skills previously demonstrated in his television work.

Robin Williams appeared on the cover of the August 23,1979, issue of Rolling Stone, photographed by Richard Avedon.

Robin Williams won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for the recording of his 1979 live show at the Copacabana in New York City, Reality.

Robin Williams was 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.

The film is set in 1965 during the Vietnam War, with Robin Williams playing the role of Adrian Cronauer, a radio shock jock who keeps troops entertained with comedy and sarcasm.

Robin Williams was allowed to play the role without a script, improvising most of his lines.

Robin Williams appeared opposite Steve Martin at Lincoln Center in an off-Broadway production of Waiting for Godot in 1988.

In 1991, Robin Williams played an adult Peter Pan in the film Hook, although he had said that he would have to lose 25 pounds for the role.

At first, Robin Williams refused the role because it was a Disney movie and he did not want the studio profiting by selling merchandise based on the movie.

Robin Williams's performance paved the way for other animated films to incorporate actors with more star power.

Robin Williams appeared with fellow comedian, Billy Crystal, in an unscripted cameo at the beginning of a 1997 episode of the third season of Friends.

Robin Williams's performances garnered various accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Good Will Hunting; as well as two previous Academy Award nominations, for Dead Poets Society, and as a troubled homeless man in The Fisher King, respectively.

From Dustin Hoffman, with whom Robin Williams co-starred in Hook, he learned to take on totally different character types, and to transform his characters by extreme preparation.

Allen knew that Crystal and Robin Williams had often worked together on stage.

Robin Williams was the host of a talk show for Audible that aired in April 2000 and was only available on Audible's website.

In Insomnia, Robin Williams portrayed a murderer on the run from a sleep-deprived Los Angeles police detective in rural Alaska.

That same year, in the psychological thriller One Hour Photo, Robin Williams portrayed an emotionally disturbed photo development technician who becomes obsessed with a family for whom he has developed pictures for a long time.

Robin Williams headlined his own one-man show, Robin Williams: Live on Broadway, which played at the Broadway Theatre in July 2002.

Years after the films, Janet Hirshenson revealed in an interview that Robin Williams had expressed interest in portraying Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series, but was rejected by director Chris Columbus due to the "British-only edict".

In 2006, Robin Williams starred in five movies, including Man of the Year, a political satire, and The Night Listener, a thriller about a radio show host who realizes that a child with whom he has developed a friendship may not exist.

Robin Williams continued to provide voices in other animated films, including Robots, the Happy Feet film franchise, and an uncredited vocal performance in Everyone's Hero.

Robin Williams 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.

In 2010, Robin Williams appeared in a sketch with Robert De Niro on Saturday Night Live, and in 2012, he guest-starred as himself in two FX series, Louie and Wilfred.

Robin Williams made his Broadway acting debut in Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre March 31,2011.

In May 2013, CBS started a new series, The Crazy Ones, starring Robin Williams, which was canceled after one season.

Four films starring Robin Williams were released after his death in 2014: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, A Merry Friggin' Christmas, Boulevard, and Absolutely Anything.

Robin Williams married actress Valerie Velardi in 1978, following a live-in relationship with comedian Elayne Boosler.

Velardi and Robin Williams met in 1976 while he was working as a bartender at a San Francisco tavern.

In March 2008, Garces filed for divorce from Robin Williams, citing irreconcilable differences.

In 2011, Robin Williams married graphic designer Susan Schneider, and they remained married until his death.

In New York City, Robin 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.

Robin Williams was an enthusiast of both pen-and-paper role-playing games and video games.

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

Robin Williams liked the film Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.

Robin Williams became a devoted cycling enthusiast, having taken up the sport partly as a substitute for drugs.

Robin Williams was raised and sometimes identified himself as an Episcopalian.

In 1986, Robin Williams teamed up with Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal to establish Comic Relief USA.

Bob Zmuda, creator of Comic Relief, explains that Robin Williams felt blessed because he came from a wealthy home, but wanted to do something to help those less fortunate.

Robin Williams made benefit appearances to support literacy and women's rights, along with appearing at benefits for veterans.

Robin Williams was a regular on the USO circuit, where Williams traveled to 13 countries and performed to approximately 90,000 troops.

Robin Williams performed with the USO for US troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For several years, Robin Williams supported St Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Robin Williams was a casual friend of John Belushi, and partied with the Saturday Night Live comedian the night before Belushi died of a drug overdose in 1982.

In 2003, Robin Williams started drinking again while working on the film The Big White in Alaska.

Years afterward, Robin Williams acknowledged his failure to maintain sobriety, but said that he never returned to using cocaine, declaring in a 2010 interview:.

In mid-2014, Robin Williams was admitted to the Hazelden Foundation Addiction Treatment Center in Center City, Minnesota, for treatment for alcoholism.

In March 2009, Robin Williams was hospitalized due to heart problems.

Robin Williams postponed his one-man tour for surgery to replace his aortic valve, repair his mitral valve and correct his irregular heartbeat.

Robin Williams described the early symptoms of his disease as beginning in October 2013.

Robin Williams kept saying, 'I just want to reboot my brain.

Robin Williams was found dead at age 63 in his home in Paradise Cay, California, on August 11,2014.

Robin Williams had aspyhxiated himself using a belt wrapped around a door handle.

An examination of his brain tissue suggested that Robin Williams had "diffuse Lewy body dementia".

Robin Williams's body was cremated at Monte's Chapel of the Hills in San Anselmo, and his ashes were scattered over San Francisco Bay on August 21,2014.

Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between.

Shortly after Robin Williams died, Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior aired Aladdin commercial-free over the course of a week, with a dedicated drawing of the Genie at the end of each airing before the credits.

That night, the cast of the Aladdin musical honored Robin Williams by having the audience join them in a sing-along of "Friend Like Me", an Oscar-nominated song originally sung by Robin Williams in the film Aladdin.

British heavy metal band Iron Maiden dedicated a song to Robin Williams, titled "Tears of a Clown", on their 2015 album The Book of Souls.

That same year, a mural of Robin Williams was created on Market Street in San Francisco.

In May 2022, Robin Williams was inducted into the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.

Robin Williams raised the bar for what it's possible to do, and made an enormous amount of us want to be comedians.

Robin Williams was considered a "national treasure" by many in the entertainment industry and by the public.

Robin Williams created a signature free-form comedy persona so widely and uniquely identified that new comedians like Jim Carrey impersonated him, paving the way for the growing comedy scene that developed in San Francisco.

Robin Williams's performances were unlike anything any of us had ever seen, they came from some spiritual and otherworldly place.

Robin Williams said that, partly due to the stress of performing stand-up, he started using drugs and alcohol early in his career.

Robin Williams further said that he neither drank nor took drugs while on stage, but occasionally performed when hung over from the previous day.

Robin Williams once described the life of stand-up comedians as follows:.

Some, such as the critic Vincent Canby, were concerned that Robin Williams's monologues were so intense that it seemed as though, at any minute, his "creative process could reverse into a complete meltdown".

Robin Williams felt secure that he would not run out of ideas, as the constant change in world events would keep him supplied.

Robin Williams explained that he often used free association of ideas while improvising to keep the audience interested.

For example, some comedians said that Robin Williams had stolen their jokes, which he strongly denied.

Whoopi Goldberg defended Robin Williams, asserting that it is difficult for comedians not to reuse another comedian's material, and that it is done "all the time".

Robin Williams liked Jay Leno for his quickness in ad-libbing comedy routines, and Sid Caesar, whose acts he felt were "precious".

Robin Williams gave me the idea that it can be free-form, that you can go in and out of things pretty easily.

Robin Williams was influenced by Richard Pryor's fearless ability to talk about his personal life onstage, with subjects that included his use of drugs and alcohol, and Robin Williams added those kinds of topics during his own performances.

Robin Williams received two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and five Grammy Awards.