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defrogYou know about Robin Williams.
And I guarantee you that anything I write about his life and death has already been written in a million blogs and Facebook posts and Twitters. But, you know, bloggery.
So yeah – like most people my age, my first exposure to Williams was Mork’s appearances on Happy Days (of all places), followed by the TV show and – in my case – his first stand-up comedy album, which was one of the most amazing things I’d ever heard, and also the most literate. Who else was making Truman Capote jokes in 1979? Or ever?
Then of course, there are the films. High points for me include Good Morning Vietnam, The Fisher King, The Birdcage and, of course, Dead Poets Society, one of the smartest and most inspirational films ever made.
It’s a shame that his later career gets such a bad rep because he made a few schmaltzy films (Patch Adams, What Dreams May Come, Bicentennial Man, etc), and like many actors with a career as long as his, he made some awful films. But even in his later years, he proved he could play bad guys (Insomnia being the best example), and even when he was doing guest appearances in Night At The Museum, he did good work.
Anyway, you know all that. And it’s sad he’s gone, especially the way he went out. So I’ll close with this link to John Scalzi’s post on his death, which focuses a bit more on depression. It’s worth reading, if only because a lot of people don't really understand severe depression and what it does to people, no matter how rich and famous they are. (In the case of Williams, he was bipolar, and not a lot of people understand that, either.)
In retrospect, Williams’ dark side was evident in most of his work. I think it’s ultimately what made his best performances so good. And regarding his work as both an actor and a comedian, I have nothing but respect for the guy.
Nano nano,
This is dF
And I guarantee you that anything I write about his life and death has already been written in a million blogs and Facebook posts and Twitters. But, you know, bloggery.
So yeah – like most people my age, my first exposure to Williams was Mork’s appearances on Happy Days (of all places), followed by the TV show and – in my case – his first stand-up comedy album, which was one of the most amazing things I’d ever heard, and also the most literate. Who else was making Truman Capote jokes in 1979? Or ever?
Then of course, there are the films. High points for me include Good Morning Vietnam, The Fisher King, The Birdcage and, of course, Dead Poets Society, one of the smartest and most inspirational films ever made.
It’s a shame that his later career gets such a bad rep because he made a few schmaltzy films (Patch Adams, What Dreams May Come, Bicentennial Man, etc), and like many actors with a career as long as his, he made some awful films. But even in his later years, he proved he could play bad guys (Insomnia being the best example), and even when he was doing guest appearances in Night At The Museum, he did good work.
Anyway, you know all that. And it’s sad he’s gone, especially the way he went out. So I’ll close with this link to John Scalzi’s post on his death, which focuses a bit more on depression. It’s worth reading, if only because a lot of people don't really understand severe depression and what it does to people, no matter how rich and famous they are. (In the case of Williams, he was bipolar, and not a lot of people understand that, either.)
In retrospect, Williams’ dark side was evident in most of his work. I think it’s ultimately what made his best performances so good. And regarding his work as both an actor and a comedian, I have nothing but respect for the guy.
Nano nano,
This is dF
