August 11th, 2014 the day the world was shocked that Robin Williams lost his battle with suicide. Robin was a well known, loved man. Everybody has seen his kind smile and happy attitude in some commercial, favorite childhood movie or TV show and stand up comedian act. Robin was known for his great sense of humor, ability to think of jokes on the spot, acting skills and improvisational style. He not only had a smile on his face all hours of the day but was able to do the same to anyone that was in the same room as him.
Robin Williams was born on July 21st, 1951, in Chicago Illinois. He had a very successful life that started at Claremont Men's College and College of Marin before getting accepted into Juilliard School in New York City studying acting. Williams started off his career with comedy in San Francisco and Los Angeles where his humor was experience by the world in his first of many stand-up acts. Robin was taken from this life way too soon at an early age of 63. On August 11, 2014 he was found dead in his home.
Williams started his acting career by starring in smaller, less financially successful films during the early to mid 1980s, His first acting role was in Laugh-In in 1977, shorty after he received the role as Mork in Mork & Mindy. From 1978 to 1982 Robin starred the lead role in Popeye. He finally got his big hit with his role as Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning, Vietnam. Robin Williams also had roles in The Richard Pryor Show, Great Minds Think for Themselves and Happy Days. Robin's death came just a few short months after he returned to TV in The Crazy Ones.
Movies
Even though Robin's time with TV shows may have been short the time he spent making his well known movies was not. Williams starred in many famous movies that still to this day keep his name alive. People today remember Williams through not only their favorite childhood movie but the entertainment they watched for their whole lives. He is known most for his movies Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, Jumanji, Night at the Museum, Aladdin and many more. Robin was always the entertainment on screen, always having his watchers laughing keeping the film interesting. Even though some of his films were released over a decade ago children, adults and families still gather around to watch his hilarious and fun filled movies. Robin Williams last movie project, Absolutely Anything, was released on September 30th, 2015.
Lifelong Illness Takes His Life
Williams suffered from a rare type of dementia known as Lewy Body Disease, which was misdiagnosed as Parkinson's Disease before the true diagnosis. According to William's wife Susan the disease took over Robin's body and mind. It caused him to have paranoia, delusions, insomnia, tremors and memory problems, he even had symptoms of being schizophrenic. Susan believes this is what lead Robin to take his own life. Susan explained in many interviews that the night before Williams took his life he was very paranoid, "bizarre behavior", frantically looking up drugs on the internet and even stuffed his collection of watches into a sock to give to a friend for safekeeping the night before the accident.
Robin Williams' death shocked people around the world. How could such a happy smiley guy be so unhappy with life to end it? This is a common questioned asked with many suicide stories, most times it is the happiest people that are dying on the inside. Williams, as well as many other suicidal victims, is a prime example that you never know what someone is going through. Even though Williams screen time had slowed down because of his onset of mental illness we all still thought of him as the happy, goofy stand up comedian we saw on all his TV shows and movies. It is nearly impossible to judge how someone is feeling on the inside. Robin is a fantastic example of someone that seemed happy on the outside but was hurting so bad on the inside. If you know someone with suicidal thoughts please help them get help. Call the suicide hotline 1-800-273-8255 or help them find someone that is certified and knows where to go to get the help they may need. Take Robin's example and be more cautious of those around you.