RIP Robin Williams

Seems to me it would give you a MONSTER headache, though.

 

I wonder how many people on the edge will take this as a green light to off themselves now? I mean..."the great Robin Williams who was as famous and funny as could be did it so why shouldn't I" mentality has to be going through some depressed peoples' minds when hearing about it. It came into mine. He was a light in this world full of darkness and, if he can go out like that, then anything goes. That is honestly what I thought when I first heard about this. But, obviously, you have to take a step back and acknowledge this man was mentally ill and it got the better of him.

 

Autoerotic asphyxiation is real, and people kill themselves doing it. I don't think it's out of left field to extrapolate the possibility of such.

 

Michael Hutchence, David Carradine... any other celebs go that way?

 

Are other comedians usually shy as kids too? Maybe he just got caught up in being something he's not because he made others laugh..maybe he just couldn't keep doing it and couldn't live with disappointing people either.

 

I am sorry you feeling and thinking that way . . .. .
Honestly . .. stop with the ideal that this is a world filled with Darkness [read evil/bad/vile]

Because dude. . . the good far outweighs the bad

Rocket River

 

It sucks he checked out so early, and I say that for purely selfish reasons. The man had at least ten or fifteen years of film making left in him, and you just know a couple of them would have been classic performances. If anything, Williams' career suffered because he took too many risk. Yes, he made a lot of crappy commercial movies, but he pushed the envelope more than any other comedic actor. In a way, Williams was Bill Murray before Bill Murray was Bill Murray.

 

Probably, they just had better post mortem publicist. I'm sure non celebrities die from it, too.

 

“Son of a b****” (or “Shazbot!”). That’s what I thought at about 7:00 last night when I got a text from my buddy that stated simply, “Robin Williams died”. After a quick confirmation online to get more details, it felt like a gut punch. A wildly talented and beloved entertainer who seemingly had the world as his oyster was gone just like that. Yet again. Like when we suddenly and so cruelly lost the sublime Phil Hartman much too soon 16 years ago. Or, more recently, the death of arguably the planet’s then-greatest working actor, Phil Hoffman.

That’s because Robin Williams was essentially a constant presence in the life of Americans for the past 35+ years. And though few of us actually knew him, it was through his extraordinarily diverse TV and film career that entertained the hell out of the planet that we felt like we did know Williams. So hearing about his reported suicide cast a pall for many on what was just another lazy, late summer Monday night.

The off-the-wall stand-up comic first broke into America’s consciousness when he appeared on the incredibly popular “Happy Days” as the red-clad alien Mork from Ork, leading people to wonder if Garry Marshall ate magic mushrooms before penning the episode. Alas, the Fonz had already jumped the shark before this so nobody was really questioning an alien coming to Milwaukee. (Not to mention, how believable was it that that many skinny people lived in Milwaukee anyways?).

Williams’ hyperkinetic (read: coked to the gills) performance captured an equally coked-up public’s fancy, leading to his own spin-off “Mork and Mindy” (a show that sometimes featured my girlfriend…um, Morgan Fairchild), and greasing the skids for his film career. He came out of the gate a little bumpy in his first starring role, the Robert Altman-helmed comic book disaster that was “Popeye”. It’s not that Williams was bad (in fact, he was the only thing worth watching), but that the rest of the movie was awful. But things got better soon.

Though many think “Dead Poets Society” represented his transition to more serious fare, Williams actually showed off his serious chops in just his third appearance in a movie, the wacky yet entertaining “The World According to Garp”. After a few run-of-the-mill ‘80s flicks like “The Best of Times” and “Club Paradise” and HBO comedy specials where he resembled a lab rat injected with Pablo Escobar’s private stash, he hit pay dirt with “Good Morning, Vietnam”. A Hollywood version of military disc jockey Adrian Cronauer’s stint in Southeast Asia, Williams snagged his first Oscar nomination by playing a comical, irreverent version of the real man.

He would get two more nominations in the next four years for playing a boarding school teacher in “Dead Poets Society” (1989) and a homeless guy in Terry Gilliam’s trippy, underappreciated “The Fisher King” (1991). In between those two, he played another serious role in “Awakenings” opposite Robert DeNiro. But rather than continue with meaty roles, Williams took up studios on their offers to do kid-friendly fare. In the process, he wisely (whether deliberate or not) introduced himself to a whole new generation of filmgoers throughout the ‘90s. “Hook”, “Alladin”, “Jumanji”, “Jack”, “Flubber”, and the hysterical-yet-heartfelt cross-dressing divorce comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire” combined to make him as popular with the kid set as he was with their parents.

But it was the script from a pair of local guys that would help Williams reach the pinnacle of his career in 1998. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as (likely depressed) Bunker Hill Community College professor Sean Maguire in the heartwarming South Boston tale “Good Will Hunting”. Combing pathos and a more subdued comedic style, along with his heart-tugging ‘Game Six of the 1975 World Series’ story, Williams won over audiences and his peers (well, maybe not Burt Reynolds as the video below shows). His surprised reaction and subsequent emotional speech forever endeared him to Bostonians and particularly South Bostonians (no, they’re not called “Southies”).

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After a few post-Oscar paycheck movies (“What Dreams May Come”, “Bicentennial Man”, “Jakob the Liar”), he got in touch with his inner creep in “One Hour Photo” and “Insomnia”, once again showing audiences just how much range he had as an actor. In the next few years, he continued with more kids movies, some run-of-the-mill stuff, played two Presidents (though one was a shrunken, comedic version of Teddy Roosevelt), and essentially had his career come full circle when he returned to network television for “The Crazy Ones” some 30+ years after hanging up Mork’s rainbow suspenders.

For the last few decades, he made us piss our pants laughing (“it was a drive-by fruiting”), occasionally shed a few tears (“I gotta see about a girl”), and even creep us the hell out while developing film. But there’s really no comparison for Robin Williams because he was just so damn unique. And the world is a less happy place without him.

Hopefully, he’s already said “Na-nu Na-nu” to George Carlin and Richard Pryor and made himself comfortable with his head planted firmly in the seat of a comfy chair. Thank you, Robin. You were one of a kind and though you’ll be terribly missed, you have left a legacy of laughter that will outlast any tears.

(That he took is own life makes his death even sadder, that he could be in so much pain he felt that suicide was his only way out—-and for those of you calling him “selfish” for doing so, go read up on depression and get yourself educated. It was another reminder that depression, like the addiction Williams also struggled with, knows no societal or financial bounds. And it will hopefully spur those suffering to open themselves up to help or to have family/friends of people with depression to keep a wider eye open for signs things aren’t going well. If you feel you need help, ask a friend or loved one because depression isn’t a slump you play your way out of.)

 

Also, **** Shep Smith for calling Williams a coward. We don’t know what was going on in Robin Williams’ clearly damaged head to warrant calling him a coward or selfish, but there’s enough evidence to draw the conclusion Shep Smith is a certified dick. A big one at that.

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I think at this point . . .. you can never call any person who selects suicide a coward . . or you call them all cowards

Rocket River

 

That's the mistake many make- they think external factors can make a difference, when for the truly clinically depressed individuals, no amount of family, friends, money, fame, or anything else can convince them that they're worthless, alone, and without hope in their darkest hours. The only thing I can think of to combat a chemical/internal condition is (1) chemicals designed to create a balance; and (2) weekly therapeutic sessions in which a licensed professional works with the individuals in exploring their inner being. Even then, it may not be enough.

Too many successful people with supposedly everything to live for (Kurt Cobain, Michael Hutchence, Brad Delp, Robin Williams) have taken this route, so we know that for some, it can't be about external stimuli. It's all inside- sometimes so deep within the recesses of one's being that no one can get to it. And in the lowest moments, the allure of a permanent solution to end a permanent condition (let's forget the notion for some that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem- it's not that way for everyone) is extremely tempting.

Some can't be saved. But some can:

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So many favorites to chose from. My favorite parts that Williams undertook were:

1. The Fisher King
2. Aladdin

The honorable mention because Williams didn't have the hugest part in the move was Shakes the Clown.

Edit::: Ahh crap. I totally forgot World According to Garp.

My corrected list reads:

1. The Fisher King
2. The World According to Garp
3. Aladdin

 

So it begins. Now Lauren Bacall is gone.

 

Maybe a bit off topic but I didn't realize how beautiful his daughter is. She's like naturally pretty. Weird.

 

Amazing... she looks nothing like him... Didn't even inherit his ears... nothing...

 

I love the bad asses on Fox News. So gangster.

 

If you like his interviews, the Inside the Actors Studio was one of the best. A woman in the audience was literally taken out on a stretcher.

It's a long video but the first 10 minutes is vintage Williams.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...&mid=B182BEF3AA8B51F7E496B182BEF3AA8B51F7E496

 

Watching World's Greatest Dad just made me feel even sadder. Damn.