RIP Robin Williams

[Jan]

I was having a really nice day today when I got home to see the news that Robin Williams has died, possibly by his own hand.

The world's a darker place tonight. I wish that mental illness could be treated easily and with the effectiveness that we expect from standard medicine. But the brain/mind is so delicate and so unique that treatment is often by guess and trial and error.

Be extra gentle with yourselves and the ones around you, folks.

Jan

[Looney]

Uggghhh, I am glad you said something Jan. I found out a few hours ago and I didn't want to be the one to break the bad news. Just a terrible situation. So sad. Doesn't even seem real. I just read that he leaves 4 movies unfinished. I have so many of his movies and I've laughed at so much of his work that I can't even imagine this is real.

[Jan]

Even sadder now that suicide is confirmed. I can't help but hope that it helps open up a dialogue about what depression and mental illness really are.

There are a *lot* of his movies I've never seen because, and I know this is silly, but 'The World According to Garp' was so much too intense for me that I avoided his other dramatic roles. Must correct that.

Jan

[Looney]

Another one that had a lot of drama that got me was The Fisher King. What Dreams May Come is another you may want to avoid under the circumstances. And definitely steer clear of World's Greatest Dad.

[DaveNarn]

Two of his films stand out for me:

Moscow on the Hudson
"A Russian musician defects in Bloomingdale's".

What Dreams May Come.
"After dying in a car crash a man searches the afterlife for his wife."

[Ubik]

I remember the Fisher King being quite good. I also remember howling at some of his early stand up stuff. I must have watched a lot of his stuff as an adolescent, what with growing up in the 80s/90s, arguably the height of his career. It's a sad loss, and I'm glad it's helped to shine some light on depression and mental health issues that are often glossed over by society at large.

Kevin Long, who posts over on B5TV as Republibot 3.0 made a really good point about Williams, and touched on a few things I didn't know. Williams supported a lot of people who’d hit hard times or had to deal with difficult circumstances. He paid for the care that Christopher Reeve needed after his accident.

From Kevin’s FB post:

Case in point: Christopher Reeve was paralyzed for nine years. He required continual round-the-clock medical care, and had no insurance. You know who put up all the dough for that? Robin Williams.

Without even being asked, he cranked out scores of millions of dollars to help Reeve, and single-handedly kept him alive when Reeve lacked the resources to do it himself. All the while, he never asked for anything in return, and he encouraged Reeve to keep fighting, and acting. At no point did Williams do this for praise. He didn't tell anyone about it. When it came up in interviews, he refused to discuss it. For a decade.

Why did he do it? Because he and Reeve had been roomates at Juliard in the 1970s.

Mr. Williams has done this for others. He never sought the spotlight for his humanitarian efforts, he just was in a position where he could help people he cared about, and he did. In a broader sense, when he could help society as a whole - such as "Comic Relief" and his support of St. Jude Children's Hospitals - he did that, too. Robin Williams was a man who saved people's lives, and went out of his way to avoid praise for it, becuase that is what good people do. They help, and seek no reward.

In his case, in order to continue helping, he took crap roles in crap films and ruined his star's reputation in exchange for continuing to work regulearly so he could have money to keep people alive.

[Looney]

I remember the Fisher King being quite good.

Oh I was not saying any of those movies were bad movies. I just meant that if one were looking to avoid intense drama and themes then those were ones to stay away from.

[Ubik]

Oh I was not saying any of those movies were bad movies. I just meant that if one were looking to avoid intense drama and themes then those were ones to stay away from.

Didn't mean to imply that you thought otherwise! Was just mentioning that I’d enjoyed the film!

And yes, they are more intense than the light hearted comedy stuff he did, which I think he primarily did for the money, which in turn has benefited others.

[Dan Dassow]

Words escape me. A force of nature has untimely quelled.