Comedian and Oscar winning actor Robin Williams is dead of a suspected suicide. Let’s take a moment to remember his amazing career.
It is being widely reported that Robin Williams committed suicide at age 63. In a statement confirming the actor’s death, his publicist referred to his battle with depression, “Robin Williams passed away this morning. He has been battling severe depression of late. This is a tragic and sudden loss. The family respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time.”
Williams battled substance abuse and alcohol problems for decades. He was also a generationally defining stand up comedian. For people of a certain age, Williams first became known to millions of Americans as the alien Mork from Ork on the television series Mork & Mindy. The Mork character made his first appearance on Happy Days and was so popular that he was given his own series on ABC.
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He was also a generationally defining stand up comedian. His HBO specials made him a stand up legend. Williams moved into films in the early 1980s and became the rare comedian who became a successful dramatic actor. He won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting and was nominated for his performances in Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, and Good Morning Vietnam.
His career contained too many great moments to mention them all in one story, but Robin Williams was heavily involved in charity work that included Comic Relief and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Robin Williams always came back to comedy, and it is his comedic roles that he will also remembered for. Popeye, Good Morning Vietnam, Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, and Awakenings are just a few of the roles that standout in the minds of many moviegoers.
Williams was a person who made millions laugh around the world. For that reason, his death is eliciting an emotional reaction from many people, but the person that we saw on the screen wasn’t the real Robin Williams. The real person struggled in life with depression and addiction. Today, he lost that battle.
The death of someone who made us laugh through the years reminds us all of our mortality. Mork, Genie from Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, or that that genius who could dominate a stage through improv, no matter how you choose to remember him, Robin Williams is gone.
A clip of Robin Williams doing stand up:
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
