Robin McLaurin Williams,Biography of Robin McLaurin Williams, Robin Williams Biography: The Darkness Behind the Light,The Tragic Life of Robin Williams

                                                          
                                     Robin McLaurin Williams

 He was a comic genius who had only one speed- full throttle. From the moment he burst into our lives asan alien on Happy Days, he amazed us with a range of talent that left us breathless. Yet, behind the manic shtick of Robin Williamswas a man who was deeply plagued by depression. He had other demons, such as alcohol and cocaine. Still he kept us entertained to the very end,which made it all the more unfathomable to his legion of fans and admirers when he tookhis life, at the age of 63.  we get to the essenceof the real Robin Williams. * * *

Robin McLaurin Williams came into the worldon July 21st, 1951. Born at St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago, Illinoishe was the only child of Laurie and Robert Williams. The family was wealthy, with Robert beinga senior executive at the Ford Motor Company. Laurie was a former model and part-time actress. Much of Robin’s formative years were spentalone in the huge mansion that was his home. In order to cope with his loneliness he createdcharacters and conversations in his head. He was an overweight child, which led to bullyingat school. The sixth grade, he later recalled, was themost difficult year of his life. Many days he went home crying, after constantname calling and physical harassment. Each day was a torment for him, with the onlyfriends the ones he created in his imagination.

The hardship of these early years broughton a deep seated state of depression that Robin was to grapple with for the rest ofhis life. Robin began to use comedy as a defense mechanism. It started with his mother. Laurie had a very sharp wit and would oftenuse humor, laced with sarcasm, to communicate with her son. In order to connect with her, Robin had tomake his mother laugh. It wasn’t good enough to be Robin; he hadto be funny Robin. By the time he was 16, the family had relocatedto Tiburon, California where Robin attended Redwood High School. It was the late sixties, and the straightlaced Robin found himself in the middle of a counterculture that revolved around drugsand sex.

He was able to loosen up and, after dabblingwith marijuana, found himself fitting in for the first time. It was at Redwood High that Robin stumbledupon the drama department. He had already perfected his comedic veneer,quickly establishing a reputation as the class clown. He fell in love with the idea of improv performance,his comedic personality slowly emerging through drama classes. At the same time, Robin got involved in wrestlingand soccer, proving to be an accomplished athlete. Yet, by the time he graduated college in 1969,he was voted by his classmates as the ‘least likely to succeed.’ Not surprisingly he was also voted ‘funnieststudent.’ After graduation, Robin attended ClaremontMen’s College, his sights set on a career in political science. Before long, however, he was spending moretime in the college theater than in lecture rooms. He won the coveted role of Fagin in the College’sproduction of Oliver, turning in a stellar performance that made it clear that he wasdestined for the limelight. Leaving behind his diplomatic ambitions, Robinenrolled in a community college theater program.

 During classes he would often improvise, leavinghis classmates and teachers in fits of laughter. After three years of honing his craft, hewas offered the opportunity of a lifetime - a full scholarship to the Juilliard Schoolof Performing Arts in New York City. Williams was one of only two students acceptedinto the 1973 advance program at Juilliard. The other was future superman actor, ChristopherReeve. Reeve, who would become a close friend, recalledhis first impressions upon meeting Williams: He wore tie-dyed shirts with tracksuit bottomsand talked a mile a minute. I’d never seen so much energy containedin one person. He was like an untied balloon that had beeninflated and immediately released. I watched in awe as he virtually caromed offthe walls of the class and hallways. To say that he was ‘on’ would be a majorunderstatement. At Juilliard, Robin astounded his teachersand fellow students alike. He was able to take on the persona of characterswith ease, trading out one accent or dialect for another like he was born to do it. However, Robin was frustrated at Juilliard.

He just didn’t fit in. After two years, his teachers told him thatthere was nothing more that they could teach him. One of his instructors considered Robin tobe a genius who was not being properly served by the school’s conservative and classicaltraining style. He left Juilliard in 1976, ready to launchhimself on the world. His first stop was the stand up circuit onthe West Coast. Comic Robin’s first break into the realms of comedycame at a club in the San Francisco Bay Area. His first gig was at the Holy City Zoo, wherehe also spent time tending bar. These early sets were frenetic, borderingon psychotic. No-one had ever seen anything quite like RobinWilliams. He played a collection of edgy charactersincluding Reverend Oral Satisfaction. His early stand-up was influenced by the likesof Lenny Bruce, Peter Sellers and Jonathan Winters. His manic edge, quick fire ad-lib routinesand off-the -wall physical comedy proved a hit and he soon established a loyal following. Robin loved the immediate feedback that camefrom stand-up, and it was something that he would continue to do right through his career.

Despite the apparent ease of his performances,he actually found stand-up very stressful. Underneath the cloak of his act, he was anintensely shy man. He once said that he started using drugs andalcohol as a crutch to combat his stage nerves. In 1977, Williams moved to Los Angeles wherehe began performing at the Comedy Club. It was here that he was discovered by TV producerGeorge Schlatter who offered him a spot on a revival of the old 60’s show Laugh In. The show didn’t survive, but for Williamsit established a foothold into a career in television. He became a semi-regular cast member on TheRichard Pryor Show, while also continuing to perform stand-up. It was an appearance on The Richard PryorShow that brought Williams to the attention of Gary Marshall, the producer of the hitsit-com Happy Days. After five seasons, the scriptwriters wereseriously running out of ideas (though they hadn’t yet ‘jumped the shark’). They decided to do an episode taking off the1960’s sci-fi comedy My Favorite Martian.

The episode was called My Favorite Orkan andcalled for the casting of an actor to play an alien from the land of Ork. Marshall though that Williams might be theman for the job. In what has gone down as possibly the mostbrilliant audition in TV history, Robin entered the room and immediately sat in the chairon his head. He proceeded to do his lines, and then brokeinto an inspired ad-lib. Marshal cast him on the spot, later commentingthat Williams was the only alien who turned up for the part. The episode of Happy Days was originally shotas a dream sequence on the part of Richie Cunningham. However, the character played by Williams,Mork from Ork, was such a hit with the TV watching audience after an initial broadcast,that the ending was re-filmed so that Mork was a real character. Much of Robin’s work on the Happy Days episodewas improvised and augmented with physical comedy. He spoke in a high, nasally voice, set offbuy his signature greeting ‘nanoo-nanoo.’ Audiences couldn’t get enough of the zanyalien and demanded more. This led to the creation of the spin-off seriesMork & Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982. The show catapulted Williams to super stardomliterally overnight. After just two weeks on the air, it had zoomedto the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings.

The producers of the show kept the scriptloose enough to give Robin plenty of room to do as he pleased - and the results wereunpredictable, over-the-top and hilarious. While the critics weren’t overly enthusedwith the show, they were falling over themselves to lavish praise upon its star. Super Star Mork & Mindy quickly became a pop culturephenomenon. A generation of kids took to wearing Mork’strademark rainbow suspenders and greeting their friends with the words ‘nanoo-nanoo.’ Robin went from relative obscurity to instantfame in the space of a couple of months. It was something that he wasn’t ready for. He began indulging in the excesses that comewith fame - drugs, alcohol and women. Just as he acted in the fast lane, so to didhe live his live in the very fastest of lanes. He quickly slipped into the habit of partyinginto the early hours, crawling home at 5 in the morning and then having to be on the setby 10.

There is no doubt that Robin was blessed withmore physical energy than most. Inevitably, however, that energy began toburn out. He would sometimes fall asleep on the set,or just sit dormant in ‘off’ mode. One night, after performing a late night setat a comedy club, Robin met up with fellow comic John Belushi. They ended up at the Chateau Marmont, whereWilliams shared some of Belushi’s cocaine and then left. The next day, on the set of Mork & Mindy,co-star Pam Dawber broke the news to Williams that Belushi had died of a drug overdose. Robin was devastated. The news shocked him into making changes inhis lifestyle. The death of Belushi tarnished the image ofHollywood’s fast living brat pack. Robin was called to testify before a grandjury, an experience which, along with the shock of Belushi’s death and the birth ofhis first child, Zak, allowed him to break free from the stranglehold of drugs and alcohol. It was at this time that he discovered cycling,a form of exercise which he credits for saving his life.

 After four years, Mork & Mindy had lost itsmidas touch. Producers tried whatever they could to resurrectthe initial appeal but nothing seemed to work. They decided to make Mork less naive, allowingWilliams to work in more of his nightclub act material. Interestingly, the Mork character also foundits way into his stand up routines, though not by Robin’s design. Audience members at his late night shows wouldyell out, ‘Do Mork,’ to which Robin would frustratingly respond, ‘Mork’s not here. I’m a different guy!’ By the middle of 1982, the character thathad propelled Williams to superstar status was beginning to feel like a millstone aroundhis neck. So, it came as somewhat of a relief to himwhen Mork & Mindy was cancelled after four seasons. Family Man In 1976, Robin met Valerie Velardi while workingas a bartender in San Francisco, shortly after leaving Juilliard. She was a dancer, having studied at Juilliardherself.

 They began a relationship and, after two years,were married on June 4th, 1978. Valerie endured her husband’s cocaine addictionand wild partying lifestyle for a number of years. It was with the birth of their son, Zachary,on April 11th, 1983 that he finally managed to shake off his addiction. However, he was unable to control his wanderingeye. He ended up having an affair with a cocktailwaitress by the name of Michelle Tish Carter.

 In 1986, Miss Carter sued Williams for $6.4million, claiming that he had knowingly infected her with herpes simplex virus. He settled out of court, only for his wifeto sue for divorce a few months later. On April 30th, 1989, less than a year afterthe divorce from Valerie being finalized, Williams married Marcia Grimes, the formernanny to his son, Zach. They had actually been carrying on an affairduring the last two years of his previous marriage. At the time of the wedding, Marcia was pregnantwith Robin’s child, a daughter who they named Zelda Rae. Two years later, they had a second child,Cody Alan. The marriage endured for 19 years, with Marciafinally leaving, unable to handle Robin’s relapse into addiction. Williams married for the third and final timein 2011. Susan Schneider was a graphic designer atthe time.

 He met her while recovering from a heart operationin 2009. They were still together at the time of Robin’sdeath in 2014. Movie Star Robin’s fame on the small screen inevitablyaroused the interest of movie makers. His first starring role came in 1980’s Popeye. The movie was a financial and critical flopand it looked like Williams’ film career was over before he’d even gotten out ofthe gate. But then, in 1982’s The World Accordingto Garp, he was able to show more of his dramatic acting talents. The film was well received , with critic RogerEbert calling Robin’s performance ‘unconventional and absorbing.’ Following a couple of smaller roles he gothis big screen break in 1987’s Good Morning Vietnam. The role of Adrian Cronauer, a real life ArmedForces DJ stationed in Saigon during the war, was tailor made for Williams’ manic style. In fact, nearly everything that he did onscreen was improvised.

 The performance was good enough to earn himan Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Over the next decade, Williams appeared inan impressive number of films, displaying a huge range and appeal across the generations. He shone as both a dramatic and a comic actor,with his first and only Oscar coming for Best Supporting Actor playing a psychologist in1997’s Good Will Hunting. He had previously received two nominations,for 1988’s Dead Poet’s Society and 1991’s The Fisher King. Perhaps Williams’ most versatile role wasone in which he was never actually on screen. His role as the genie in the 1992 Disney animatedmusical Aladdin showcased his amazing vocal range. The role had been specifically written forhim, although he improvised much of the dialogue, just as he had done in Good Morning Vietnam. Williams played what would prove to be hismost beloved character in 1993’s Mrs Doubtfire, in which he portrayed a recently divorcedactor who takes on the persona of an elderly Scottish housemaid to get closer to his children. He spent four hours every day putting on hismakeup to play the part.

 The movie was a great success and a sequelwas in the works at the time of Williams’ death in 2014. His darkest role came in 2002’s One HourPhoto. Williams played a lonely photo technicianwho becomes obsessed with a family whose photos he has developed for years. He received rave reviews from such esteemedcritics as Leonard Maltin and Roger Ebert. Robin’s last appearance on the big screenwas in 2014’s Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, in which he reprised his roleas President Theodore Roosevelt. In the 2015 animated film Absolutely Anythinghe provided the voice of Dennis the Dog. It closed out a 38 year career that encompassed74 movies. Philanthropist In 1996, together with fellow celebritiesWhoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal, Robin founded Comic Relief, USA. The charity helped the homeless, with $80million being raised as of last year. Together with his second wife, he also createdthe Windfall Foundation to help donate money to a variety of causes, including St. JudeChildren’s Research Hospital. On May 27th, 1995 Robin’s close friend ChristopherReeve was thrown from a horse and paralysed. Robin dropped everything and rushed to hisbedside.

He turned up in full costume as a crazed Russiandoctor, giving Reeve the first laugh since his tragic accident. Robin would go on to to donate huge sums toresearch into spinal cord injury. When Reeves died in 2004, Robin was devastated. Williams was also passionate about supportingthe military. He traveled and performed at so many basesaround the globe that he was known as the modern day Bob Hope. During his career, he entertained over a hundredthousand troops in thirteen countries Addict Williams managed to quit alcohol and cocainein the early 1980’s. However, in 2003 he lapsed back into alcoholabuse while working on the movie The Big White on location in Alaska. For the next three years he denied that hehad a problem. Finally, he was confronted by family and friends,who convinced him to check himself into a substance-abuse rehabilitation center in Newberg,Oregon. There he admitted that he was an alcoholic. After sixty days in rehab, rather than returningto his family, Robin began living with a sober companion, who was charged with ensuring thathe didn’t relapse. Shortly after that his second wife, Marcialeft him. A depressed Robin did what he always did whenlife got too tough - he threw himself into his work, going on tour to do stand up. But in the middle of the tour it was discoveredthat he needed heart surgery. The operation went well, but it required quietrest time to recuperate.

This forced time of inactivity allowed thedemons in his head to have free reign. William’s addictive personality led to marathoncycling and video gaming sessions. Cycling was a healthy obsession for him, but,for a man who had struggled with depression his whole life, being alone in a room witha computer was very dangerous. He soon began drinking again. This time he didn’t care who knew. In May of 2014, William’s new TV show, TheCrazy Ones, was cancelled after just one season. In July, he was back in rehab. Around that time he also learned that he hadParkinson’s Disease. After his death it was discovered what hadbeen diagnosed as Parkinson’s was actually Lewy body dementia. After his death, Robin’s wife Susan revealedthat Robin had been been having severe and prolonged episodes of fear and anxiety, insomnia,constipation, stress and hand tremors for over a year. She said that he would constantly tell her,‘I just want to reboot my brain.’ On August 11th, 2014, Robin Williams committedsuicide by hanging himself with a belt. He died from asphyxiation. His wife, Susan, stated that he was killedby the ‘terrorist inside my husband’s brain.’ Within hours of the tragic news of his passing,thousands of fans were posting images of themselves standing on their desks with the caption,‘ O’ Captain, my captain,’ in reference to Robin’s character in ‘Dead Poet’sSociety.’ It was a fitting tribute.