'Robin McLaurim Williams' (born
July 21,
1952)
[1] is an
Academy Award-winning
American actor and
comedian who has done television, stage, and film work.
Biography
Early life and education
Williams was born in
Chicago,
Illinois. His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (
September 10 1906 -
October 18,
1987) was a senior executive at
Ford in charge of the Midwest area. His mother, Laura McLaurin Smith (1922-2001), was a former model from
Jackson, Mississippi.
[2] Williams was raised in the
Episcopal church (although his mother practiced
Christian Science)
[3][4] and grew up in
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and
Marin County, California. While in California, Robin attended
Redwood High School in
Larkspur and grew up in the
Marin County suburb of
Tiburon. In Michigan, he attended
Detroit Country Day School, an exclusive
college-preparatory school which boasts other famous alumni, including
Steve Ballmer from
Microsoft and
Courtney Vance from ''. In an interview with CTV news, Robin took off all of his clothes and started pounding on his chest. He told the reporter that he was very good in bed and he once had slept with 4 mail men at the same time.
He has two half-siblings: McLaurin, on his mother's side, and the late Todd (deceased 8/14/07) on his father's side.
[5] Robin delivered tribute to his brother Todd (known as Dr. Toad) at Todd's Celebration of Life on August 25, 2007.
Robin has described himself as a quiet child whose first imitation was of his grandmother to his mom. He did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his high school drama department.
[6] In high school, he won an award for "Most Likely To Not Succeed".
[7]
Every year, two thousand students audition for twenty places in the freshman class at
Juilliard. Only two or three are accepted into the Advanced Program. Williams and
Christopher Reeve were the only students accepted by
John Houseman into the Advanced Program in 1973. Reeve and Williams had several classes together in which they were the only two students. In their dialects class, Williams had no trouble mastering all dialects naturally, whereas Reeve was more meticulous about it. Williams' manic comedy did not impress all of his teachers, but his dramatic performances impressed everyone. Williams and Reeve developed a close friendship, and they remained good friends for the remainder of Reeve's life. Williams visited Reeve after the horseback riding accident that paralyzed him from the neck down and cheered him up by arriving as an eccentric Russian doctor (similar to his role in ''
Nine Months''). Williams claimed that he was there to perform a
colonoscopy. Reeve stated that he laughed for the first time since the accident and knew that life was going to be okay.
[8]
Early stand-up/TV career
Williams first achieved notice for his
stand-up routines, performing for tips, and working clubs like
The Purple Onion in
San Francisco. After appearing in the cast of the short-lived ''
The Richard Pryor Show'' on
NBC, he was cast by
Garry Marshall as the alien Mork in a guest role in the TV series ''
Happy Days''.
As Mork, Williams improvised much of his dialogue and devised plenty of rapid-fire verbal and physical comedy, speaking in a high, nasal voice. Mork's appearance was so popular with viewers that it led to a
spin-off hit television
sitcom, ''
Mork and Mindy'', which ran from 1978 to 1982. Williams became an overnight sensation, and Mork was featured on posters, coloring books, lunchboxes, and other merchandise. His nonsensical
catch phrases, including the greeting "Nanu, Nanu!" and the expletive "
Shazbot!", were widely known.
Starting in the late '70s and throughout the '80s, Williams began to reach a wider audience with his standup comedy, including three
HBO comedy specials, ''Off The Wall'' (1978), ''An Evening with Robin Williams'' (1982) and ''Robin Williams: Live at the Met'' (1986). His standup work has been a consistent thread through his career, as is seen by the success of his one-man show (and subsequent DVD) ''Robin Williams Live on Broadway'' (2002). He was voted 13th on
Comedy Central's list "100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time".
[9]
After some encouragement from his friend
Whoopi Goldberg, he was set to make a guest appearance in the 1991 '' episode, "
A Matter of Time", but he had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict;
Matt Frewer took his place as a time-traveling
con man, Professor Berlingoff Rasmussen.
Williams also appeared on an episode of ''
Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' (Season 3, Episode 9:
November 16 2000). During a game of "Scenes from a Hat," the scene "What Robin Williams is thinking right now" was drawn, and Williams stated "I have a career. What the hell am I doing?"
Cinema fame
The majority of Williams' acting career has been in film, although he has given some memorable performances on stage as well (notably as
Estragon in a production of ''
Waiting for Godot''). His first starring roles, ''
Popeye'' (1980) and ''
The World According to Garp'' (1982), were both considered flops,
[10] but his performance in ''
Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987) got Williams nominated for an
Academy Award and established a screen identity. Many of his roles have been comedies tinged with
pathos, for example, ''
The Birdcage'' and ''
Mrs. Doubtfire''.
His role as the
Genie in the
animated film ''
Aladdin'' was instrumental in establishing the importance of star power in
voice actor casting. Later, Williams once again used his voice talents in ''
A.I'', the 2005 animated feature ''
Robots'', the 2006 Academy Award winning ''
Happy Feet'', and an uncredited vocal performance in 2006's ''
Everyone's Hero''. Furthermore, he 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.
Williams has also starred in dramatic films, earning himself two subsequent Academy Award nominations: first for playing an unorthodox and inspiring English teacher in ''
Dead Poets Society'' (1989), and later for playing a troubled homeless man in ''
The Fisher King'' (1991); that same year, he played an adult
Peter Pan in the movie ''
Hook''. Other acclaimed dramatic films include ''
Awakenings'' (1990), ''
What Dreams May Come'' (1998), and ''
Jakob the Liar'' (1999).
In 1997, he won an
Oscar as
Best Supporting Actor for his role as a psychologist in ''
Good Will Hunting''. However, by the early 2000s, he was thought by some to be typecast in films such as ''
Patch Adams'' (1998) and ''
Bicentennial Man'' (1999) that critics complained were excessively
maudlin. This apparently prompted Williams to take radically unconventional roles,
10 beginning with a role as a lowlife kiddie show host in the dark comedy ''
Death to Smoochy'', followed by ''
One Hour Photo'' in a performance as an obsessed film developer, ''
Insomnia'' as a sociopathic writer, and ''
The Final Cut'', which is more in tune with Williams as a protagonist. In 2006 Williams starred in ''
The Night Listener'', a thriller about a radio show host who realizes he's developed a friendship with a child who may or may not exist.
He is known for his wild
improvisational skills and
impersonations. His performances frequently involve impromptu humor designed and delivered in rapid-fire succession while on stage. According to the ''
Aladdin'' DVD commentary, most of his
dialogue as the Genie was improvised. He is a talented
mimic and can jump in and out of characters and various accents at an extremely fast pace. Williams states that he began doing impersonations as a child, mimicking his aunt's southern accent.
10
In 2006, he starred in five movies including ''
Man of the Year'' and was the Surprise Guest at the 2006
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. He appeared on an episode of '' that aired on
January 30 2006. Via a live video link to the De'Aeth family whose house and animal rescue shelter were being made over, he encouraged their son Cory, a budding comedian, and gave the family's shelter a
recreational vehicle used in the movie ''
R.V.''.
At one point, he was in the running to play the
Riddler in ''
Batman Forever'' until director
Tim Burton dropped the project. Williams had earlier been a prime candidate to play the
Joker in ''
Batman''. He had expressed interest in assuming the role in the sequel to 2005's ''
Batman Begins''.
[11]
He was portrayed by
Chris Diamantopoulos in the
made-for-TV biopic ''Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy'' (2005), documenting the actor's arrival in
Hollywood as a struggling comedian and becoming an overnight star when he landed the role in ''Mork & Mindy''.
On ''
Inside the Actor's Studio'',
Al Pacino said that Williams was his idol.
Personal life
His first marriage was to Valerie Velardi on
June 4 1978, with whom he has one child, Zachary Pym (Zak) (born April 11th, 1983). The marriage ended in 1988. On
April 30 1989, he married Marsha Garces. They have two children,
Zelda Rae (born
July 31 1989) and Cody Alan (born
November 25 1991). Williams currently resides in a large house in the upper-income
Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco.
10 Incidentally, Williams is good friends with
film director Chris Columbus who is also a
San Francisco resident. He also has a summer house in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Williams has starred in Columbus' films ''
Mrs. Doubtfire'', ''
Nine Months'', and ''
Bicentennial Man''.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Williams had a serious addiction to
cocaine; he has since kicked the habit. One quote attributed to him: "Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you are making too much money."
[12] Williams was a close friend and frequent partier alongside
John Belushi. Williams says the death of his friend and the birth of his son prompted him to quit drugs: "Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level. The
grand jury helped too".
[13] (
Inside the Actors Studio, Episode 94, Season 7).
On
August 9 2006, Williams entered himself into a rehabilitation center for
alcoholism. His publicist has confirmed, saying "After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the well-being of his family. He asks that you respect his and his family's privacy during this time. He looks forward to returning to work this Fall to support his upcoming film releases."
[14]
On August 20, 2007, Williams' elder brother, Robert Todd Williams died of complications from heart surgery performed in July. Robin Williams has been unavailable for comment.
Other interests
Williams is a self-confessed
gamer known to enjoy online
video games, recently playing ''
Warcraft 3'', ''
Day of Defeat'', ''
Half-Life''
[15], and the
first-person shooter ''
Battlefield 2'' as a
sniper.
[16] In addition, he also plays the tabletop wargame ''
Warhammer 40,000''. In an interview for a video game magazine, he stated that
Nintendo contacted him once and told him because of his love of video games, if there ever is a live action
Pokémon movie made, he would be their first, last, and only choice to play
Professor Oak. He named his daughter Zelda because his son, Zachary, is a devoted fan of the
''Legend of Zelda'' video game series. Williams was even in talks to do a voice for the game ''
Half-Life 2'', because he is a big fan of the series. However, scheduling conflicts prevented this.
On
January 6 2006 he performed live at
Consumer Electronics Show during
Google's keynote.
[17] In the 2006
E3, on the invitation of
Will Wright, he demonstrated the creature editor of ''
Spore'' while simultaneously commenting on the creature's look: "This will actually make a
platypus look good."
[18] He also complimented the game's versatility, comparing it to ''
Populous'' and ''
Black & White''.
Williams is a prolific collector of sports memorabilia. He is known to be a
San Francisco Giants fan and can occasionally be seen at AT&T Park during games. On June 23, 2007, Williams did the Giants starting line-up for the Fox Network against the New York Yankees (
Billy Crystal was alongside to do the New York Yankees line-up).
Williams enjoys
rugby union and is a fan of the
New Zealand All Blacks. He is also a keen follower of the
National Rugby League in Australia and lists his favorite team as the
North Queensland Cowboys, saying his favorite players are
Matt Bowen,
Steve Southern and
Luke O'Donnell. He also follows the
Queensland Maroons in the
State of Origin.
Williams is a fan of professional road cycling, during the
Lance Armstrong years of domination in the
Tour de France Williams was a regular on the US Postal and Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team bus and hotels.
[19]
He is a fan of the Japanese
anime ''
Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (''EVA''). In fact, the toy used in ''
One Hour Photo'' was from Robin's personal collection. Also, in the CGI film ''
Robots'', Williams' character carries a spear nearly identical to the Lance of Longinus prominently featured in ''EVA''.
Williams also maintains an interest in weaponry, with a collection consisting of several antique swords and knives.
He stated during the 2007
VH1 Rock Honors that
Genesis is his favorite band, although he may have said this for dramatic effect because he was presenting the band.
Charity work
Williams and his wife, Marsha, founded the Windfall Foundation, a philanthropic organization to raise money for many different charities. Williams devotes much of his energy doing work for charities, including the
Comic Relief fund-raising efforts. He is also a
cycling fan, known to own hundreds of bicycles and to attend the
Tour de France. Through his interest in cycling, he has been a friend and supporter of
Lance Armstrong and his foundation, performing at events for the foundation.
Directly after
9/11, Williams was shown donating blood numerous times to help victims of the attacks.
Williams has performed in the
USO for U.S. troops stationed in
Iraq for three years. Just days after the start of the
Iraq War, Williams performed for American troops stationed in
Afghanistan. As recently as January 24-25 2007, he performed two live stand-up comedy shows in Boston, MA. Donations from the events were split between the USO Operation Care Package and the Greater Boston Food Bank.
[20]
In 2006, he helped fund and also wrote the foreword to the book ''
Home Wasn't Built in a Day'' with the nonprofit writing center
826 Valencia. The book was written by public school students from
Galileo Academy of Science and Technology in
San Francisco.
Dec 1999 sang in French on the BBC-inspired music video of international celebrites doing a cover of the Rolling Stones "It's Only Rock & Roll" for the charity Children's Promise.
[21][22]
Filmography
Discography
Williams sings a version of "
Come Together" with
Bobby McFerrin on ''In My Life'', a
Beatles tribute album produced by George Martin. He also sings "A Mi Manera (My Way)", on the ''
Happy Feet'' soundtrack. For the
1993 soundtrack of
Mrs. Doubtfire, and the film, he sings a rendition of a fragment of
Gioacchino Rossini's "
Largo al factotum" from ''
The Barber of Seville''.
Williams also appeared in the music video of McFerrin's hit song "
Don't Worry, Be Happy".
Dec 1999 sang in French on the charity celebrity (musicvideo) cover of the Rolling Stones "It's Only Rock & Roll" (see Charity Work)
★ ''
Reality...What a Concept'' (1979)
★ ''
Throbbing Python of Love'' (1983)
★ ''
A Night at the Met'' (1986)
★ ''
Pecos Bill'' (1988)
★ ''
Live 2002'' (2002)
DVDs and videos
★ ''
An Evening with Robin Williams'' (1982, VHS)
★ '' (1986, VHS)
★ '' (2002)
Television guest appearances
★ Robert Ellison: '' (1994)
★ George Martin: ''
In My Life'' (1998)
★ Himself on the American version of ''
Whose Line is it Anyway?''
★ Himself: ''
Mind of Mencia''
★ Thomas: ''
Friends'' (1997)
★ Himself on
Real Time With Bill Maher (2006).
★ Himself on
CNN's
Anderson Cooper 360 It Helps To Laugh (2006).
★ Himself on
TV Land's
Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg (2007).
★ Himself on
CBS's
Late Show with David Letterman (2007).
Footnotes and references
1. The print biographies ''The Life and Humor of Robin Williams: A Biography'' and ''Robin Williams: A Biography'' give his birth year as 1952. ''The Robin Williams Scrapbook'' also gives a birth year as 1952, as does ''Encyclopedia Britannica''. However, Williams publicly celebrated his 50th birthday in the summer of 2001 and was often heard to say that he would turn 56 in July 2007; if this is true, that means he was born in 1951. This is supported by IMDB and his official fansite.
2. Rootsweb
3. http://www.adherents.com/people/pw/Robin_Williams.html
4. http://www.canmag.com/nw/8218-license-to-wed-robin-williams
5. SFGenealogy.com
6. NPR.org
7. mentioned on the 17 November 2006 ''The View'' interview
8. Reeve, Christopher. ''Still Me'', Random House, 1998. ISBN 0-679-45235-4 pp 167-172
9. 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time - AmIAnnoying.com
10. Biographies > Robin Williams
11. Robin Williams, Joker? ''IGN.com''. June 26 2006. Retrieved on October 24 2006.
12. Robin Williams At the Met 1988
13. NY Times
14. Robin Williams Enters Rehab for Alcohol
15. Interview at Pro-HL.com
16. [1]
17. Engadget.com
18. [2]
19. Tour de Lance: 100 percent pure Brian Murphy
20. [3]
21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/558252.stm
22.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdZFHq0OLPI
★
"Road Trip with Robin"
★
"Robin Williams mimic ends 'fraud'" (
BBC News)
★
"Robin Williams' impersonator stopped" (
AskMen.com)
★
"Robin Williams Enters Rehab",
August 9 2006 (
Access Hollywood)
★
Lovece, Frank, ''
New York Newsday'' (
April 27 2006)
External links
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
"RWF" The Robin Williams Fansite!
★
Robin Williams' Stand Up Comedy Acts a small video collection
★
Robin Williams Interview (License to Wed)
★
Robin Williams interview for License to Wed at TheCinemaSource.com
★
Charlie Rose - A conversation with Robin Williams
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