# R.I.P. Robin Williams **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [August 11, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333 "2014-08-11T23:04:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/121 "2014-08-12T01:46:56Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Fuck you. > Fuck you. This is not the pit, you MAY NOT say that. I have had relatives who committed suicide, so I will not respond to you in kind, but you DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to say that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/122 "2014-08-12T01:48:27Z")
Very, very sorry to hear the news. He was a comic genius and a very capable actor, and he will certainly be missed. I was just listening to this the other day - 20-some years ago, Robin channeled his inner old Jewish man to very entertainingly retell a Russian folk tale (there’s some good klezmer music in this, too): [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XPSXdz2Aik) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/123 "2014-08-12T01:51:52Z")
> [@Doug\_Bowe](#): > > I was not joking. He must have been depressed and I was asking what a happy seeming guy…well, you get the idea. I’m just as shocked as most here. > > Sorry if it was misinterpreted. Fair enough. The thing is, clinical depression isn’t a rational thing, in that it’s not necessarily a direct result of events, and it’s doubly irrational in the case of people with honest-to-God mental illnesses like bipolar disorder. You can very easily get people like Robin Williams and Kurt Cobain who were well loved, wealthy and who seemingly would have everything to live for, but end up losing the fight with their own demons of despair and depression. Not rational at all, like I was saying. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/124 "2014-08-12T01:54:33Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I don’t actually find it hard to believe; it won’t surprise me if he truly was battling depression. But the believability of the proposition makes it no less sad. Poor man. > > ☹ I agree. Comedy often comes from pain. ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/125 "2014-08-12T01:54:56Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > This is not the pit, you MAY NOT say that. I have had relatives who committed suicide, so I will not respond to you in kind, but you DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to say that. Seconded. Seriously. Brother. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/126 "2014-08-12T02:01:34Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > This is not the pit, you MAY NOT say that. I have had relatives who committed suicide, so I will not respond to you in kind, but you DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to say that. I don’t endorse the way they said it, but the idea that “suicide is such a selfish thing to do” is seen as pretty ignorant by a lot of people. I’ve had friends and family kill themselves and suffered from clinical depression, and I wouldn’t call it selfish any more than I’d call somebody in chronic pain from cancer choosing euthanasia “selfish”. Not only does depression completely warp thinking, it’s also extremely painful. I don’t know why there has to be so much self-righteous judgment about people who are ill. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/127 "2014-08-12T02:03:33Z")
Heavy sigh. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/128 "2014-08-12T02:05:32Z")
I’m so sad to hear this. He was a brilliant comedian and a wonderful dramatic actor, too. ☹ In the New York Times article, it said he studied at Juilliard. Does anyone know what he studied there? Do they teach acting or did he play an instrument? ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/129 "2014-08-12T02:11:58Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > His role in _Good Morning, Vietnam_ was perfect for his comic genius. And I really liked his dramatic role in _Good Will Hunting_, too.: And Dead Poets Society. Those three movies are my favorites of his. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/130 "2014-08-12T02:12:44Z")
My heart hurts. I think I was one of the few people who liked the movie Toys, but it’s all I’ve been thinking about this evening. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/131 "2014-08-12T02:14:46Z")
Dammit. I was just quoting him in a post a few days ago. Loved that guy. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/132 "2014-08-12T02:16:22Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Probably my earliest memory of Robin; > > [http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v9g1yRXF8I8](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v9g1yRXF8I8) Mine too. Huh, hadn’t thought about that line in decades. I remember my brother and I would throw things up in the air and say in a silly voice, “fly, be free”. Then, a befuddled, “huh”. When they crashed down. It’s just amazing to think about how many lives he’s positively touched. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/133 "2014-08-12T02:27:00Z")
How sad. There’s a shit ton of depressed people on this planet. It’s discouraging to see a gifted person loved by millions take this route. I know it’s a mental disease but if somebody with his financial means can’t get a handle on it then WTH. He literally could have hired a psychiatrist as his full time personal assistant. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/134 "2014-08-12T02:34:11Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Fuck you. > Fuck you. > [@Laggard](#): > > Mods please forgive me but go fuck yourself asshole. Despite the shock some people are obviously feeling and the sensitivity of depression as a subject, this is way out of line. And to everybody else: if you want to bash people for being callous or for saying the wrong thing, do it in the Pit. Don’t muck up this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/135 "2014-08-12T02:36:22Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > How sad. > > There’s a shit ton of depressed people on this planet. It’s discouraging to see a gifted person loved by millions take this route. I know it’s a mental disease but if somebody with his financial means can’t get a handle on it then WTH. He literally could have hired a psychiatrist as his full time personal assistant. I can’t tell if you are trying to “blame the victim” here by suggesting that Mr. Williams should have been able to _buy_ his mental health back or if you are commenting on the truly confounding, at times hopeless nature of severe depression, in that it can affect even the richest among us. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/136 "2014-08-12T02:42:19Z")
I know it got bad reviews, but I’ve always found _Popeye_ and Williams’s performance in it to be weirdly compelling. It was a very dark version of zany – like playing a French video game. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/137 "2014-08-12T02:42:39Z")
Somebody started a thread not too long asking if anybody had ever shed a tear when a celebrity died. It’s only happened to me twice—Linus Pauling and Charles Schulz. This makes three. The weird thing is, I was just thinking about that thread a couple of days ago. One of my speech instructors passes out a questionnaire every semester with five questions, one of which is ‘who are (or were) the three greatest orators of the twentieth century?’ He said that one semester, every single person in the class listed Williams. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/138 "2014-08-12T02:45:49Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > I don’t know why there has to be so much self-righteous judgment about people who are ill. Seconded. Making demands of someone in pain is selfish. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/139 "2014-08-12T02:59:26Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I’m so sad to hear this. He was a brilliant comedian and a wonderful dramatic actor, too. ☹ > > In the New York Times article, it said he studied at Juilliard. Does anyone know what he studied there? Do they teach acting or did he play an instrument? he studied drama, john houseman was one of his teachers there; christopher reeve was his classmate and roommate. he was there for 3 years. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/140 "2014-08-12T03:04:43Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I know it got bad reviews, but I’ve always found _Popeye_ and Williams’s performance in it to be weirdly compelling. It was a very dark version of zany – like playing a French video game. I liked it quite a bit growing up. My brother and I watched it a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333.md?page=8)