Hello everyone, I know I said I’d be back on New Years Eve, but with the year ending soon, I thought it wouldn’t be right to end it without talk about someone very special that we’ve lost a million times too soon back in August. I know I should have written this sooner, but I just didn’t have the words at the time. My only hope is that I do Mr. Williams justice.
Like most kids growing up in the 90’s, I knew Robin from movies like, Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, FernGully, and Hook. But as the years marched on, I’ve learned that he’s been at the game since the 70’s, starting off in stand-up, until finally making his TV debut on the show Laugh-In and joining Richard Pryor on his variety show. By 78 Robin got his big break guest starring on Happy Days as a peculiar alien by the name, Mork. The character proved to be popular enough to warrant a spin-off series, Mork and Mindy released that same year, running for four seasons.
Outside of acting and comedy, Robin was an amazing philanthropist, working with The St. Jude’s Research Center, performing for soldiers at USO shows, he and his fellow comedians Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg started Comic Relief, a benefit telethon to help the homeless. He was best friends with Christopher Reeve, and never left his side when he had his accident, even after Christopher and his wife Dana passed away, he was still close to the Reeve family.
Another thing that I’m not sure how many people know about, is how much of gamer Robin was, the guy loved both pen and papper RPG’s and video games, so much so, that he actually named two of his children after video game characters Zelda and Cody (named after the Final Fight charater). And he (unofficially) served as a consultant for actress Judith Hoag, who was staring in the original Ninja Turtles movies back in 1990.
Of course, like well… everyone, he had some problems here and there, he was addicted to cocain for a while, but quit after the death of his friend John Belushi and the birth of his first born son, Zak. He had problems with alcohol, and went to rehab twice for help, and right before his death he’s going through the early stages of Parkinson’s disease.
And then, that day came, on August 14, around 6 pm I visit Twitter and I see everyone tweeting their condolences to Robin and his family, and sharing their favorite moments featuring Mr. Williams, the cast of Aladdin On Broadway (with the audience) paid tribute Robin by singing Friend Like Me. On TV, Jimmy Fallon and Whoopi Goldberg hold back tears trying to pay their respects on their respective shows. I didn’t want to believe something like this, but sadly it was true, Robin passed away that weekend. It was one of the worst feelings the world has ever had. Later that night, Zelda became a victim of online bullying, some people on Twitter and Instagram picked on her for not posting enough pictures of her father. This forced her to leave Social Media, but not before telling who ever sent those messages that the pictures of her and Robin are personal and if she wants to share them, she’ll share them. Zelda recently returned to both websites.
Robin was a one of a kind person, always sweet, kind, and your star will never die. We lost people this year, from JewWario to Phillip Seymour Hoffman to Mickey Rooney to Lauren Bacall to Lord Richard Attenborough, but I think out everyone, I’ll miss you most of all Mr. Williams.
So, I’ll be back next week, for the update post, and to Mr. WIlliams’ friends and family celebrating the holidays without him for the first time, I want to wish you all the happiest of holidays and the most sincerest of condolences. And as Dante Basco said:
“We’ll see you in Neverland”.
In Memory of Robin Williams (1951-2014)
The Cutting Room Floor 