I'm usually pretty apathetic towards celebrity deaths, but this one is just a gut punch. **** depression.
He could definitely ham it up. Sometimes it worked (Fisher King) and sometimes it didn't (Patch Adams). His best performances were neither the sad clown or the high strung clown. Dead Poet's Society being a perfect example and also Cadillac Man, one of his most underrated performances.
Gonna miss this guy. I absolutely loved Mork and Mindy as a kid. His work has giggled me out of many a glum mood. When I think about good and fun movies and TV over my life, my thoughts include this guy. Depression is a beast.
They're not going to start another thread for this; and suicide would be a pretty reasonable indicator of depression. There are alot times, as a poster, that you just don't make any sense.
I always saw a deep sigh hidden in his facial expressions. When he smiled or gave advice in a happy manner you could notice it.
I wouldn't say the vast minority as that last CBS sitcom was a perfect example. But I do agree that his talk show work indicated an empirically comedic mind*. He was on Real Time when Bill Maher was doing new rules and made some reference to Politically Incorrect's cancellation, the line got a laugh but Williams saying "let it go, Bill!" right afterwards really landed it and got Maher laughing himself. Spoiler *It's interesting that there are some comedians who can do that on the fly and others, most of the ones who come on talk shows and have whole conversations fed to them, can't. A bit of a tangent, but the extreme example of the latter that strikes me is Aries Spears freaking out on some radio talk show because they kept asking him to do impressions.
Beyond what was implied from his comedic persona, all of the charity and political work seemed to indicate a little more stability and sense of purpose than would engender a suicide. Can you imagine Whoopi Goldberg (even with her massive previous drug issues) or Billy Crystal getting to that point?
I am ALWAYS a 'poster' here and nothing else. AGAIN, you could harass me or debate anything else in another thread, not here. If you could just offer kind words for a lost life, it would be better than a bickering session.
I believe posterity will take a kinder gaze towards his serious work, beyond the stuff we already praise him for today. Patch Adams, What Dreams May Come, Bicentennial Man were not well received when they came out, but in time we may come to understand them better given the man we knew Robin Williams to be. Yes he was funny, but foremost he was an actor, and I think he would be honored to be considered as the greatest funny actor since Peter Sellers. Rest in peace Robin.
A modern day Jonathan Winters - just a comedic genius. My wife and I were floored when we heard. So sad. DD
I thought patch adams was pretty good. Maybe I was still young then and havent developed my snob taste in movies. RIP
When I heard the news this morning, I was 100% sure it was fake. So many actors have been pronounced dead by online websites so much that turned out to be hoaxes. Now that I know it's real, I'm simply in shock. Looking back at all the movies he's been in, I look at them and say "yup, that's my childhood right there". RIP, Mr Williams. You will sorely be missed.
Haven't been around a TV and didn't know until I saw this thread and confirmed it. This is incredibly sad and shocking. The man was a comedy genius and accomplished so much as a person, wow R.I.P.
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Good Will Hunting Dead Poets Society Hook Jumanji Mrs. Doubtfire World's Greatest Dad (SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD) /Thread
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/JqknnUs-ljA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Although Jonathan Winters was another idol, yes.
Saw this one time and found the link: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/video/jonathan-winters-mentors-robin-williams/
Yeah, similar in a lot of ways. I saw Winters do a show in Houston back in the mid-sixties and got to go backstage and shake his hand. A very nice guy, simply hilarious on stage. Robin was another comedian who was always "on." I never saw him with Carson or any of the other late night talking heads when he wasn't cracking me up, but that's also a lot of pressure. The need to always be funny. It's why Good Will Hunting was such a revelation to me. Watching that, I was stunned, thinking to myself, "This guy can act!" Robin made that movie, in my humble opinion. He burst onto the popular scene with Mork and Mindy, and then evolved into a superb actor. We were all lucky to have him. One of my best friend's has the same problem Robin had, a problem I didn't know Williams had to deal with until his death. I've spent some long nights with him talking him out of such a deep, black mood, such a desire to end it all, that I wondered if it was hopeless. It would always go back to getting off his meds. The meds make you feel "cured" in a way. You think that you can handle getting off of them because you both feel like "yourself" again, pretty much, and there are also side affects no man wants to deal with. Trouble "getting it up" and completely the act of sex being one of them. Viagra can take care of "getting it up," but not the other thing. What gets to my friend the most, though, more than the sexual problems, is feeling like he's lost that spark, that part of his being that makes him creative, gives him his drive to succeed, and he's very much both creative and driven. So my friend, not matter how many times he's been through the same thing, will convince himself that if he starts sliding back into deep depression, he'll simply start taking the meds again. Problem solved, right? Only it doesn't work that way. As you're going down, literally, you keep convincing yourself that you don't need the damn pills. You're feeling creative, driven, you have it back! **** the pills! I suspect that Robin went through something like that and maybe this time no one was around to talk him out of that deep, black mood. What a tragedy, and what a loss for all of us.
Damn man, left a beautiful daughter behind. My condolences goes out to his family. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/09wBn4ux3N0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
