Robin Williams!
Robin Williams is born
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Robin Williams stands up
Williams had a good deal of success with stand-up during the 1970s, including a stint at Los Angeles? Comedy Store in Robin Williams's own showcase. After performing on the revival of the Laugh-In series in 1977-78, Williams landed a guest role on the popular sitcom Happy Days as Mork, a lovably weird space alien from the planet Ork. Before too long, Robin Williams had brought the character to Robin Williams's own spin-off sitcom, Mork + Mindy (1978-82), which costarred Pam Dawber as the female earthling with whom Mork falls in love and Jonathan Winters as a fellow alien.Robin Williams on cable
With a successful sitcom under Robin Williams's belt, Williams also brought Robin Williams's talents for improvisation and stand-up comedy to cable television, headlining two Home Box Office (HBO) comedy specials, An Evening with Robin Williams (1982) and Robin Williams: Live at the Met (1986). In 1986, Robin Williams joined fellow comics Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg in hosting HBO?s annual Comic Relief telecast, which donated all funds raised to helping the homeless.Robin Williams in film
Despite Williams? undeniable success among audiences with Robin Williams's television work and stand-up comedy, Robin Williams's film career got off to a somewhat slower start. Robin Williams made Robin Williams's film debut in the title role of a disappointing live-action version of Popeye (1980), directed by Robert Altman. Though Robin Williams earned acclaim for Robin Williams's performances in a film version of John Irving?s The World According to Garp (1982) and the well-reviewed Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Robin Williams also starred in less inspiring projects such as The Survivors (1983), Club Paradise (1986), and The Best of Times (1986).Robin Williams, Good Morning Vietnam
In 1987, Williams made the leap to the Hollywood A-list with Robin Williams's Oscar-nominated performance in Good Morning, Vietnam, Barry Levinson?s comedy-drama about an irreverent deejay assigned to a radio station for the U.S. Armed Services in Vietnam. Even on the set of a movie, Williams? improvisational skills became famous, and Robin Williams was known for ad-libbing many a scene. Billed as Ray DiTutto, Williams turned in another funny performance in the somewhat bizarre The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), written and directed by Terry Gilliam.Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society
Williams earned Robin Williams's second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1989, for Robin Williams's performance as John Keating, the inspirational prep-school teacher at the heart of Dead Poets Society. In 1990, Robin Williams starred as a doctor who treats a catatonic patient (Robert De Niro) in the acclaimed drama Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall. On a less serious (and less successful) note, Robin Williams played Peter Pan in Steven Spielberg?s Hook (1991), a notorious big-budget flop which costarred Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts.Robin and Terry Gilliam
Williams reunited with Terry Gilliam to score Robin Williams's third Best Actor nod from the Academy in 1991 for The Fisher King, also starring Jeff Bridges. Robin Williams delighted children and adults alike by lending Robin Williams's unmistakable voice to an animated blue genie in Disney?s blockbuster hit Aladdin (1992). Although Robin Williams's second effort with Levinson, Toys (1992), received a mediocre welcome from critics and audiences, Robin Williams had Robin Williams's biggest (live-action) commercial success yet with the 1993 comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, in which Robin Williams played a divorced father who dresses up as a female housekeeper in order to spend time with Robin Williams's children. The film, which Williams coproduced, was directed by Chris Columbus and costarred Sally Field and pierce Brosnan.Robin Williams and The Birdcage
Williams? next big hit came three years later with The Birdcage (1996), a remake of the classic 1978 La Cage aux Folles costarring Nathan Lane and Gene Hackman. In between, Robin Williams had moderate success with the adventure film Jumanji (1995) and turned in a cameo as a befuddled doctor in Nine Months (1995), starring Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore. Also in 1996, Robin Williams starred in the disappointing Jack, about a boy who ages physically at an unnatural rate, and turned in Robin Williams's first Shakespearean performance as Osric in Kenneth Branagh?s epic Hamlet.Robin Williams and Billy Crystal
Though Robin Williams's teaming with Crystal in Father?s Day (1997) met with disappointing results, Williams scored a hit that year with Flubber, Disney?s remake of its 1961 hit The Absent Minded Professor. Robin Williams achieved a critical coup that year as well, winning Robin Williams's first Academy Award?for Best Supporting Actor?for Robin Williams's restrained performance in Good Will Hunting, costarring Matt Damon, Minnie Driver, and Ben Affleck.Robin Williams and bad reviews
Though Robin Williams's most recent efforts?including What Dreams May Come (1998), Patch Adams (1998), Jakob the Liar (1999), and Bicentennial Man (1999)?have met with a relatively disappointing critical and commercial reception, Williams remains an unusual commodity in Hollywood: a talented comedic actor who can also deliver sincere, affecting dramatic performances. In 2002, Robin Williams starred in the The Interpreter, directed by Mrs. Doubtfire?s Columbus. Upcoming projects include a darkly comic indie pic called The Big White.Robin Williams and cocaine
Williams has made Robin Williams's share of headlines for Robin Williams's personal life, beginning early in Robin Williams's career, when Robin Williams was reputed to have had a cocaine habit, and to have snorted cocaine with comic John Belushi just before the latter?s death of an overdose in 1982. In 1986, Williams was sued for $6.2 million by a former girlfriend who alleged Robin Williams had given her herpes. Robin Williams countersued for extortion. The case was later settled out of court, and the terms were undisclosed. Williams and Robin Williams's first wife, Valerie Velardi, divorced in 1988 after a decade of marriage; Robin Williams subsequently married Marcia Garces, who had worked as a nanny for Robin Williams's son Zachary. Robin Williams and Garces have two children, Zelda and Cody. Garces is also Williams' partner in a production company, Blue Wolf Productions.Robin Williams goes into rehab
The irrepressible comic actor Robin Williams has gone into rehab for alcohol abuse, Robin Williams's publicist confirmed last night.The 56-year-old Hollywood actor fell off the wagon during a typically busy year in which Robin Williams has already released two films, with three more scheduled for release before Christmas.
"After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for Robin Williams's own well-being and the well-being of Robin Williams's family," Robin Williams's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a brief statement. "He asks that you respect Robin Williams's and Robin Williams's family's privacy during this time.
"He looks forward to returning to work this fall to support Robin Williams's upcoming film releases."
No further details were available, although one celebrity television show, Entertainment Tonight, reported that Williams entered rehab sometime during July.
When Williams was first making Robin Williams's mark as a stand-up comedian in the 1970s, Robin Williams would make regular allusions to Robin Williams's drinking habits, and to the lure of addiction in general. "Cocaine," Robin Williams once joked, "is God's way of telling you you are making too much money." Robin Williams appears to have sworn off the booze around the time of the birth of Robin Williams's children in the 1980s. (He has three children, one from Robin Williams's first wife, Valerie Velardi, and two from Robin Williams's second wife, Marsha Garces Williams.)
His personal demons seem to have done little to halt Robin Williams's glittering career, which progressed from stand-up comedian, to prominence on the television comedy show Mork and Mindy, to a reputation as one of Hollywood's most reliable funny men, both on the screen and off. Earlier this year, Robin Williams appeared in RV, a comedy about a family holiday in a camper van gone wrong. Another film, The Night Listener, in which Robin Williams plays a radio host drawn to a listener who claims to be a victim of child abuse, was released in the United States last weekend.
Later in the year Robin Williams is scheduled to be seen in Man of the Year, as a talk show host who runs for president; in Happy Feet, an animated feature in which Robin Williams provides the voice of a penguin; and Night in the Museum, a fantasy film about animals and insects coming to life at a natural history museum.
No fewer than four other Williams films set for release in 2007 are already in production, including a sequel to Mrs Doubtfire, the 1993 hit comedy in which Williams' character donned women's clothing and secured himself a job as nanny to Robin Williams's estranged children.
The irrepressible comic actor Robin Williams has gone into rehab for alcohol abuse, Robin Williams's publicist confirmed last night.
The 56-year-old Hollywood actor fell off the wagon during a typically busy year in which Robin Williams has already released two films, with three more scheduled for release before Christmas.
"After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for Robin Williams's own well-being and the well-being of Robin Williams's family," Robin Williams's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a brief statement. "He asks that you respect Robin Williams's and Robin Williams's family's privacy during this time.
"He looks forward to returning to work this fall to support Robin Williams's upcoming film releases."
No further details were available, although one celebrity television show, Entertainment Tonight, reported that Williams entered rehab sometime during July.
When Williams was first making Robin Williams's mark as a stand-up comedian in the 1970s, Robin Williams would make regular allusions to Robin Williams's drinking habits, and to the lure of addiction in general. "Cocaine," Robin Williams once joked, "is God's way of telling you you are making too much money." Robin Williams appears to have sworn off the booze around the time of the birth of Robin Williams's children in the 1980s. (He has three children, one from Robin Williams's first wife, Valerie Velardi, and two from Robin Williams's second wife, Marsha Garces Williams.)
His personal demons seem to have done little to halt Robin Williams's glittering career, which progressed from stand-up comedian, to prominence on the television comedy show Mork and Mindy, to a reputation as one of Hollywood's most reliable funny men, both on the screen and off. Earlier this year, Robin Williams appeared in RV, a comedy about a family holiday in a camper van gone wrong. Another film, The Night Listener, in which Robin Williams plays a radio host drawn to a listener who claims to be a victim of child abuse, was released in the United States last weekend.
Later in the year Robin Williams is scheduled to be seen in Man of the Year, as a talk show host who runs for president; in Happy Feet, an animated feature in which Robin Williams him provides the voice of a penguin; and Night in the Museum, a fantasy film about animals and insects coming to life at a natural history museum.
No fewer than four other Williams films set for release in 2007 are already in production, including a sequel to Mrs Doubtfire, the 1993 hit comedy in which Williams' character donned women's clothing and secured himself a job as nanny to Robin Williams's estranged children.
