About Robin Williams....
I haven't talked much about what we all lost since his passing. Very hard to do until I got some time to grieve. I don't know how his friends that got a camera stuck in their face that night did it.
We bought "The Bird Cage" on Blu-ray a couple weeks before he decided to exit stage left. I know it was stage left because his politics leaned way left. We watched it about a week before the kind of day you always remember where you were when you got "the news". I am so glad we did. Anything of his we watch now will feel a little different than before.
Marta and I got the shock headline as I was reading the DU. Kudos to LBN. There was a quick reply it was another net death hoax. Whew. Then coverage of his passing became convincing. It was another 10 minutes before it started to get TV coverage. We went with MSNBC.
Very few stars touch us in the way the characters Mork, Mrs Doubtfire, Genie, etc., all did. Marta and I took the kids to see "POPEYE" more than once. Like many fans, for us it would become a multi-decades long quest see his latest film, guest appearance, or E.T. special.
He wasn't just funny. He was fun. He often pushed the limits and expanded one to perhaps a new point of view. Seeing someone we identify with so closely play a gay character in "Bird Cage" certainly opened doors in minds that had always before been closed to LGBT individuals.
Deep down I think my favorite role was one that is little known and the critics hated. But what do they know. I took my mom to see "Jakob the Liar" in first run. Concentration camps are a dark subject. Showing the audience the condemned were real people can be tricky. His statement on waterboarding is undeniable. Again he was giving us his view without preaching from a pulpit. It was more like one friend to another offering us his simple point of view. I've watched Jacob 3-4 times since he passed away.
More on Jakob and waterboarding below.
We have learned so much about his off screen generosity in the last few weeks. Causes that concerned people like being homeless and or hungry. Making sure the crew behind the camera around him were treated well. An all around good egg. Didn't Mork land here in an egg?
Most agree he left us way too soon. Be thankful he left so much behind to remember him. Drama is easy, comedy is hard. So is getting over the fact he didn't reach out to someone close to him for help before his final moments. I hope he found what he was looking for.
OS
The waterboarding scene:
The trailer:
Jakob the Liar review: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jakob-the-liar-1999
= new reply since forum marked as read
His comedy was so manic it made me tired after a few minutes. LOVED "Bird Cage" and "Popeye", though. His versatility was amazing. There will never be anyone else like him. It's all gone now. It will hurt for a long time.
The Internet Movie Data Base is free to all. Enjoy.
Here is Robin's page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000245/
Overview (4)
Date of Birth 21 July 1951, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Date of Death 11 August 2014, Tiburon, California, USA (suicide)
Birth Name Robin McLaurin Williams
Height 5' 7" (1.7 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Robin McLaurin Williams was born on July 21, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (Janin), was a former model from Mississippi, and his father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a Ford Motor Company executive from Indiana. Williams had English, German, French, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.
Robin briefly studied political science, before enrolling at Juilliard School to study theatre. After he left Juilliard, he performed in nightclubs where he was discovered for the role of Mork on an episode of Happy Days (1974) and the subsequent spin-off Mork & Mindy (1978). Williams' wild comic talent involved a great deal of improvisation, following in the footsteps of his idol Jonathan Winters. Williams has also proven to be an effective dramatic actor and received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Good Will Hunting (1997).
On August 11, 2014, Robin Williams was found dead at his home in Tiburon, California USA, the victim of an apparent suicide, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Department. A 911 call was received at 11:55 AM PDT, firefighters and paramedics arrived at his home at 12:00 PM PDT, and he was pronounced dead at 12:02 PM PDT.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ray Hamel
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BNTYzMjc2Mjg4MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODc1OTQwNw@@._V1_SX214_CR0,0,214,317_AL_.jpg
There have been tons of them on so I guess I haven't reached the "Enough grieving" point yet. Being 60, I've had far too many friends check themselves out. Some I sort of understood b/c their lives we so fucked.
The others were like Robin. On the surface, they had everything to live for. Sometimes, there are things buried so deep under the surface that just drags one so low they can't see living another minute.
So sad
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Guess I was reading too fast again.
I wonder though, what will Williams be best remembered for?
The Genie? (Good choice though...)
"GOOOOOOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!!!"
Popeye?
Bicentennial Man?
I mean, John Wayne is best remembered as "The Duke," a cowboy, and Ronald Reagan having a chimp as a child. 
We had a great time, had some good laughs -- then woke up the next morning to the awful news of his death.
I hope, somehow, he knows now during his last evening on Earth, he made my friends and I have a very enjoyable night.
He was generous, beyond hilarious and kind. One of kind.
