Robin Williams was a gifted comedian and actor. The Academy Award winner was known for his comedic timing and improvisational skills, bringing to life the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in both dramas and comedies. The Chicago-born actor began performing stand-up comedy in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1976 at the age of 25.
According to Wikipedia "Williams began performing stand-up comedy in San Francisco and Los Angeles during the mid-1970s, and rose to fame playing the alien Mork in the ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy (1978–1982) a spin-off of Happy Days. This was after his first leading film role in Popeye in 1980."
The prolific actor starred in several critically and commercially successful films, including; "The World According to Garp, Moscow on the Hudson, Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Awakenings, The Fisher King, Patch Adams, Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting" and several others. Taken from IMDB.
Robin Williams was nominated for four Academy Awards during his career, winning Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting. He also received two Primetime Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and five Grammy Awards.
Robin Williams struggled with his health for several months before his death.
"After Robin Williams died by suicide in August 2014, his widow, Susan Schneider Williams, would soon learn about a disease she had never heard of, but one that had haunted both of their lives.
"That disease is Lewy body dementia, with which the actor was diagnosed in October 2014 following an autopsy on his brain. “A few months before he passed, he was given a Parkinson’s (disease) diagnosis,” said Schneider Williams, an artist and advocate for LBD awareness and research, at the Life Itself conference, a health and wellness event presented in partnership with CNN. “But that was just the tip of the iceberg.”
"The misdiagnosis occurred in May 2014 after Robin had been experiencing severe memory, movement, personality, reasoning, sleep and mood changes. The comedian had undergone multiple tests to identify his problem, most of which were negative. “None of the doctors knew that there was this ghost disease underlying all of this,” Schneider Williams told CNN in an interview. “When that was revealed, that was like essentially finding out the name of my husband’s killer” This information was taken from CNN.
For more information on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention please visit this website.
Comments / 20