- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRobin McLaurin Williams
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- Robin McLaurin Williams was born on Saturday, July 21st, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator, Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (née 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 at Claremont Men's College and theater at College of Marin before enrolling at The Juilliard School to focus on theater. After leaving Juilliard, he performed in nightclubs where he was discovered for the role of "Mork, from Ork", in an episode of Happy Days (1974). The episode, My Favorite Orkan (1978), led to his famous spin-off weekly TV series, Mork & Mindy (1978). He made his feature starring debut playing the title role in Popeye (1980), directed by Robert Altman.
Williams' continuous comedies and wild comic talents involved a great deal of improvisation, following in the footsteps of his idol Jonathan Winters. Williams also proved to be an effective dramatic actor, receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Dead Poets Society (1989), and The Fisher King (1991), before winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Good Will Hunting (1997).
During the 1990s, Williams became a beloved hero to children the world over for his roles in a string of hit family-oriented films, including Hook (1991), FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Aladdin (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Jumanji (1995), Flubber (1997), and Bicentennial Man (1999). He continued entertaining children and families into the 21st century with his work in Robots (2005), Happy Feet (2006), Night at the Museum (2006), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), Happy Feet Two (2011), and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014). Other more adult-oriented films for which Williams received acclaim include The World According to Garp (1982), Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Awakenings (1990), The Birdcage (1996), Insomnia (2002), One Hour Photo (2002), World's Greatest Dad (2009), and Boulevard (2014).
On Monday, August 11th, 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 Office. A 911 call was received at 11:55 a.m. PDT, firefighters and paramedics arrived at his home at 12:00 p.m. PDT, and he was pronounced dead at 12:02 p.m. PDT.- IMDb mini biography by: Ray Hamel and TrekFan1
- SpousesSusan Schneider(October 22, 2011 - August 11, 2014) (his death)Marsha Garces Williams(April 30, 1989 - 2010) (divorced, 2 children)Valerie Velardi(June 4, 1978 - December 6, 1988) (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- ParentsLaurie McLaurin (Janin)Robert Fitzgerald Williams
- RelativesMcLaurin Clement 'Mickey' Williams(Grandchild)
- Wild improvised stream-of-consciousness comedy dialogue where he would do cultural references, impersonations and one-liners with rapid switching.
- Unique skill at imitating voices
- Frequently played offbeat and eccentric characters
- Frequently played fathers or family men
- Often played characters lacking in self-awareness
- One week after Christopher Reeve's tragic horse-riding accident, Williams visited him in the hospital. However, he was dressed from head to toe in scrubs, spoke with a Russian accent, and had a surgical mask on. He was acting as if he was a real doctor and did a bunch of wacky antics. After he took off his mask, Reeve stated, "That was the first time I'd laughed since the accident!".
- When he auditioned for the role of Mork from Ork on Happy Days (1974), producer Garry Marshall told him to sit down. Williams immediately sat on his head on the chair. Marshall hired him, saying that he was the only alien who auditioned.
- He was frequently called up by Steven Spielberg when he was filming Schindler's List (1993). He would put him on speaker phone so he could tell jokes to the cast and crew to cheer them up. He used his character in Aladdin (1992) most of the time.
- He was a very overweight child. As a result, nobody would play with him. He started talking in different voices to entertain himself.
- He studied at The Juilliard School with actor Christopher Reeve. The two remained good friends until Reeve's death in 2004.
- Cocaine is God's way of telling you you are making too much money.
- ...And now that you have a child you have to clean up your act, 'cause you can't drink anymore. You can't come home drunk and go, "Hey, here's a little switch: Daddy's gonna throw up on you!".
- Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet.
- See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.
- Ballet: Men wearing pants so tight that you can tell what religion they are.
- The Crazy Ones (2013) - $165,000 per episode (2013-2014)
- Man of the Year (2006) - $1,000,000
- The Night Listener (2006) - $65,000
- Bicentennial Man (1999) - $20,000,000
- Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996) - $1,000,000
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