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Robin Williams

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For other people named Robin Williams, see Robin Williams (disambiguation).
Robin Williams
Robin Williams entertaining the crew of USS Enterprise in the Persian Gulf in December 2003
Born
Robin McLaurim Williams
Spouse(s)Valerie Velardi (1978-1988) (1 child)
Marsha Garces Williams (1989-present) (2 children)

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 Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

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 Star Trek: The Next Generation 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 watershed 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 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 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 gave a speech at his memorial service.

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.[citation needed] He named his daughter Zelda because his son, Zachary, is a devoted fan of the Legend of Zelda video game series.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed] Also, in the CGI film Robots, Williams' character carries a spear nearly identical to the Lance of Longinus prominently featured in EVA.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

Directly after 9/11, Williams was shown donating blood numerous times to help victims of the attacks.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed] 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

Year Film Role Notes
1977 Can I Do It 'Till I Need Glasses?
1980 Popeye Popeye Film debut
1982 The World According to Garp T.S. Garp
1983 The Survivors Donald Quinelle
1984 Moscow on the Hudson Vladimir Ivanov
1986 Seize the Day Tommy Wilhelm
Club Paradise Jack Moniker
The Best of Times Jack Dundee
1987 Good Morning, Vietnam Adrian Cronauer Nominated for an Academy Award.
1988 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen King of the Moon Credited as Ray D. Tutto
Portrait of a White Marriage Air Conditioning Salesman Cameo
1989 Dead Poets Society John Keating Williams nominated for Best Actor Oscar. Film won Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay
Back to Neverland Vacationer/Lost Boy Co-starred with Walter Cronkite in this video that used to play at the Disney-MGM Studios's Animation Courtyard theatre.
1990 Awakenings Dr. Malcolm Sayer
Cadillac Man Joey O'Brien
1991 Hook Peter Pan
The Fisher King Parry Nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Dead Again Doctor Cozy Carlisle
1992 Toys Leslie Zevo
Aladdin Genie Voice, won a Special Golden Globe for his performance.
The Timekeeper
(or From Time to Time or LeVisionarium) 		The Timekeeper Voice; short subject; this is a former Circle-Vision 360° film at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland.
FernGully: The Last Rainforest Batty Koda Voice
Shakes the Clown Mime Class Instructor
I'm From Hollywood Documentary
1993 Mrs. Doubtfire Daniel Hillard / Mrs. Doubtfire Also producer
Being Human Hector
1994 In Search of Dr. Seuss Father
1995 Aladdin and the King of Thieves Genie Voice; Direct to Video
Jumanji Alan Parrish
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt Cameo (uncredited)
Nine Months Dr. Kosevich
1996 Hamlet Osric
The Secret Agent The Professor
Jack Jack Powell
The Birdcage Armand Goldman
1997 Good Will Hunting Sean Maguire Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Flubber Professor Philip Brainard
Deconstructing Harry Mel/Harry's Character
Fathers' Day Dale Putley
1998 Patch Adams Hunter "Patch" Adams
Junket Whore Documentary
What Dreams May Come Chris Nielsen
1999 Bicentennial Man Andrew Martin
Jakob the Liar Jakob Heym/Narrator Also executive producer
Get Bruce Documentary
2001 A.I.: Artificial Intelligence Dr. Know Voice
2002 The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch Cameo
Insomnia Walter Finch
Death to Smoochy 'Rainbow' Randolph Smiley
One Hour Photo Sy Parrish
2004 Noel Charlie Boyd/The Priest Uncredited
House of D Pappass
The Final Cut Alan W. Hakman
2005 In Search of Ted Demme
The Big White Paul Barnell
Robots Fender Voice
The Aristocrats Documentary
2006
Night at the Museum Teddy Roosevelt
Man of the Year Tom Dobbs
Happy Feet Ramon/Lovelace Voice
Everyone's Hero Napoleon Cross Voice (uncredited)
RV Bob Munro
The Night Listener Gabriel Noone
2007 License to Wed Father Frank
August Rush Wizard Post-production
2008 Old Dogs Pre-production
The Krazees in production

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)

DVDs and videos

Television guest appearances

Footnotes and references

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d "Biographies > Robin Williams". LA Auditions. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  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". People. August 9, 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Interview at Pro-HL.com
  16. ^ [1]
  17. ^ Engadget.com
  18. ^ [2]
  19. ^ Murphy, Brian. "Tour de Lance: 100 percent pure". ESPN accessdate = 2007-06-29. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Missing pipe in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ [3]
  21. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/558252.stm
  22. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdZFHq0OLPI
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