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- This page refers to the actor and comedian. For other uses, see Robin Williams (disambiguation)
Robin McLaurin Williams (born July 21, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois) is an Academy Award-winning American actor and comedian. As an actor he has had starring roles on television, stage, and film.
Biography
Early life
Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Marin County, California. His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, of English, Welsh and Irish descent, was a senior executive at Ford in charge of the Midwest area, and his mother Laurie was a New Orleans-born former model of French descent.*Comic career
Williams first achieved notice for his stand-up routines performing for tips and working clubs like the Purple Onion in San Francisco. After studying at Claremont McKenna College (then called Claremont Men's College) with the Strut and Fret theatre group in Claremont, California, and at Juilliard Drama School (where he befriended and roomed with actor Christopher Reeve), he was cast by Garry Marshall as the alien Mork in a guest star part in the TV series Happy Days.Mork's appearance was so popular with viewers that it led to a spin-off hit television series, Mork and Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982.
Film and 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 flops, but with Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) Williams was nominated for an Academy Award and established a screen identity. Many of his roles have been comedies tinged with pathos (e.g. The Birdcage, Mrs. Doubtfire).
In particular, 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 Bicentennial Man and in the 2005 animated feature, Robots.
Williams has also starred in dramatic films. He was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his role as an unorthodox and inspiring English teacher in Dead Poets Society (1989). His later dramas included Awakenings (1990) and What Dreams May Come (1998).
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, beginning with the dark comedy as a lowlife kiddie show host in 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.
He is known for his wild improv skills and impersonations. Because his quick-wit performances frequently involve ingenious humor designed and delivered in rapid-fire succession completely while on stage, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest impromptu comedians of all time. 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.
His most recent film release was Barry Sonnenfeld's RV as a family man who ends up in an unlikely competition with another family, headed by Jeff Daniels.
Personal life, charity work
Williams' first marriage was to Valerie Velardi on June 4, 1978, with whom he had one child, Zachary. That marriage ended in 1988. He married for a second time on April 30, 1989, to Marsha Garces and they have two children, Zelda and Cody.Robin and 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.
Watching his frantic mannerisms and immediate changes in characters in his comedy, some have speculated that Williams is affected by bipolar disorder, or an atypical form of high-functioning Asperger syndrome but this has never been confirmed. A more likely explanation for his remarkable creativity and intense impulsive humor may be the reason that he is often referred to as "the poster child for ADD," though this statement is often said with a sarcastic edge.
He was portrayed by Chris Diamantopoulos in the made for television biopic The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (2005), documenting the actor's arrival in Hollywood a struggling comedian and becoming an overnight star when he landed the role in Mork & Mindy.
In the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards he was the Surprise Guest.
Computer games
Williams is a self-confessed gamer known to enjoy online video games, recently playing Warcraft 3, Half-Life and the first-person shooter Battlefield 2 (as a sniper - see [http://thearchies.blogspot.com/2005/12/mork-me.html). In addition, he also plays the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000. He stated in an interview for a video game magazine, 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'd be their first, last and only choice to play Professor Oak. He also named his daughter Zelda because his son 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 keynote (see *).
In the 2006 E3, on the invitation of Will Wright, he demoed the creature editor of Spore while simultaneously commenting on the creature's look. ("This will actually make a platypus look good.") * He also complimented the game's versatility, comparing it to Populous and Black & White.
Trivia
- Robin Williams has performed in the USO for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq for 3 years. Just days after the start of the Iraq War, Williams performed for American troops stationed in Afghanistan.
- He was roommates with the late Superman star Christopher Reeve. 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 tried to cheer him up by arriving dressed as a clown doctor. Reeve stated that Robin was the first thing to make him laugh after the accident.
- An episode of Mork and Mindy was made to highlight The Movie. Mearth (Jonathan Winters) began idolizing Christopher Reeve's character, after his parents took him to see the movie. The episode deals with Mork overcoming jealousy of Superman.
- He is a Democrat and a San Francisco resident (he owns a large house in the upper-class Sea Cliff neighborhood).
- After some encouragement from his friend Whoopi Goldberg, he was set to make a guest appearance in the The Next Generation episode, A Matter of Time, but had to pull out due to a scheduling conflict; Matt Frewer took his place as time-traveling con man, Professor Berlingoff Rasmussen.
- 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." 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. A grand jury will sober you up pretty quickly."
- For a time he dated adult film actress Christy Canyon.
- At high school, he won a "Faisal" award for "Most Likely To Not Succeed"
- In Blizzard's World of Warcraft, he is rumored to play a level 60 Dwarf priest named Jett in the guild
on the Mannoroth server as well as a 60 Human Warrior named Rogark in the guild on the Bloodscalp server, however neither have been confirmed by Mr. Williams himself, nor by either of the two characters in question.
- He appeared on an episode of 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 Cody, a budding comedian, and gave the family's shelter a recreational vehicle used in the movie R.V.
- According to the Aladdin DVD commentary, most of his dialogue as the Genie was improvised.
- Williams speaks French. However, he does not do his own French dubbing in movies as Jodie Foster sometimes did.
- He is a fan of the Tour de France cycle race and good friend of 7-time Yellow Jersey winner Lance Armstrong.
- He was the voice of The Timekeeper, a former attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort about a time-travelling robot who encounters Jules Verne and brings him to the future.
- He once appeared on an episode of Whose Line is it Anyway? (Season 3, Episode 9: Nov. 16, 2000). During a game of "Scenes from a Hat," the scene "What Robin Williams is thinking right now" was pulled, and Williams stated "I have a career. What the hell am I doing here?"
- Shown donating blood numerous times directly after 9/11 to help victims of the attacks.
- At one point was in the running to play the Riddler in the third Batman film until director Tim Burton dropped the project. Williams had earlier been a prime candidate to play the Joker in the first film.
- He is good friends with film director Chris Columbus who is also a San Francisco resident.
- Is a huge fan of the Japanese anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. (in fact, the toy used in One Hour Photo was from Robin's personal collection)
- Williams is a Knighted member of the peerage for the West Kingdom of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
- He is good friends with "Fellow Whovian" Steve Martin, sometimes when both their schedules aren't too heavy they get together to watch DVDs of Doctor Who.
- Is a fan of rugby union, in particular the All Blacks and is a close friend of Jonah Lomu.
- Is currently rumoured to be in contention for the role of The Joker in the sequel to 2005's blockbuster Batman Begins. He has publicly expressed interest in the role.
- In 2005 he successfully sued Michael Clayton a former cast member of the Legends in Concert stage show at the Imperial Palace in
Las Vegas for misrepresenting himself as the real Robin Williams to a Star Tribune newspaper reporter and a Fire Department in Missouri. A permanent injunction was issued against Clayton preventing him from ever performing as Robin Williams.
- His daughter, Zelda, was named after The Legend of Zelda series by Nintendo.
Filmography
Discography
- Reality...What a Concept (1977)
- Throbbing Python of Love (1983)
- A Night at the Met (1986)
- Pecos Bill (1988)
- Live 2002 (2002)
DVDs
- Live on Broadway (2002)
Guest appearances
- George Martin: In My Life (1998) with Bobby McFerrin
- Himself on the American Version of Whose Line is it Anyway.
- Himself: Mind of Mencia
- Man having lost his wife to his best friend: Friends
External links
1951 births | Academy Awards hosts | American comedians | American Episcopalians | American film actors | American television actors | American stand-up comedians | American dramatic actors | American voice actors | Disney voice actors | Best Actor Academy Award nominees | Best Supporting Actor Oscar | Buskers | Chicagoans | Kids' Choice Awards winners | Living people | People from Michigan | San Franciscans | Whose Line Is It Anyway? contestants | Worst Actor Razzie nominees | Worst Supporting Actor Razzie Nominee
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