# 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:** 9
**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, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/161 "2014-08-12T04:35:17Z")
Roger Ebert was and may always be the deepest hurt for me in terms of celebrity deaths, but I do admit that Robin Williams is a huge shock, especially suicide. George Carlin was another sad loss, but I felt like I saw that one coming. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/162 "2014-08-12T04:36:30Z")
Damn, I’m sorry that the pain we benefited from overcame you, Mr. Williams. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/163 "2014-08-12T04:49:46Z")
Oh Captain, my captain! > [@Bullitt](#): > > I loved Robin Williams’ humor. Maybe it’s an age/generational thing. I’m 53 and grew up on Mork and Mindy, it was great TV for a high schooler. I also enjoyed his dramatic work … Same here. I didn’t realize he was only 9 years older than me. I feel like I grew up watching him. Dead Poet’s Society was probably the movie where I realized he was actually a serious actor, not just a comedian. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/164 "2014-08-12T04:55:32Z")
I know a slow-witted person who didn’t like his comedy schtick because “he talks too fast” :rolleyes: but did enjoy many of his movies and agreed he was very talented. Dark depression lurks within the souls of many many comics, so I am shocked, but not surprised that much. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/165 "2014-08-12T05:02:03Z")
The Fisher King. Mrs. Doubtfire. I don’t know when I will be able to watch two of my favorite movies again. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/166 "2014-08-12T05:29:35Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > 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. Yes. And I absolutely adored Robin Williams, ever since I first laid eyes on him as Mork. I always wanted to see him live, but never had the money or the chance. I’m so grateful that he made me want to be a teacher, via _Dead Poet’s Society_, even if that never came to fruition. Hell, that movie alone introduced me to Carpe diam. I wish I’d understood better what all he was going through. But for the grace of God… ☹ May you finally rest in peace, Robin. We’ll miss you. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/167 "2014-08-12T05:30:28Z")
Though it wasn’t that well-received, I really liked _What Dreams May Come_, but boy will \*\*that \*\*film be hard to watch now. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Onyerbike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onyerbike/32/5402_2.png) [@Onyerbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onyerbike)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/168 "2014-08-12T05:46:51Z")
Add me to the list of people who when they heard felt actual sad and not just six o clock news type of sad. I keep thinking about his voice as Genie from Alladin, and how he made my child self laugh instinctively, like there was no choice in the matter. Even in a disney film it is obvious the guy was an awesome mix of energy, talent and genius. I don’t even need to touch on the rest of his movies and stand up to prove the point. Ugh truly RIP Robin : ( ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/169 "2014-08-12T05:51:35Z")
I’m not a celebrity-chaser by any stretch of the imagination. You could show me pics of those in the last thirty years who have graced the pages of those dedicated mags or TV shows, and I wouldn’t be able to give a name for 90% of them. But I liked Robin Williams. I liked him a lot. Some people die, and it’s a shock because of their notoriety. Princess Diana, Michael Jackson, Steve Irwin (all three noted above). But I’m more choked up by Robin because, well damn, I liked him. Vale Robin. May the place where you be now give you respite from the noises in your head. So sad. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/170 "2014-08-12T06:08:52Z")
The Fisher King (1991) Parry: It begins with the king as a boy, having to spend the night alone in the forest to prove his courage so he can become king. Now while he is spending the night alone he’s visited by a sacred vision. Out of the fire appears the holy grail, symbol of God’s divine grace. And a voice said to the boy, “You shall be keeper of the grail so that it may heal the hearts of men.” But the boy was blinded by greater visions of a life filled with power and glory and beauty. And in this state of radical amazement he felt for a brief moment not like a boy, but invincible, like God, so he reached into the fire to take the grail, and the grail vanished, leaving him with his hand in the fire to be terribly wounded. Now as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper. Until one day, life for him lost its reason. He had no faith in any man, not even himself. He couldn’t love or feel loved. He was sick with experience. He began to die. One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn’t see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king, “What ails you friend?” The king replied, “I’m thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat”. So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king. As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the holy grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, “How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?” And the fool replied, “I don’t know. I only knew that you were thirsty.” ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/171 "2014-08-12T06:19:57Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Though it wasn’t that well-received, I really liked _What Dreams May Come_, but boy will \*\*that \*\*film be hard to watch now. ☹ I’d never heard of that movie (or, more likely, did when it came out in 1998, and then just plumb forgot). Thanks for mentioning this, I just read the synopsis and it sounds interesting. I’ll want to rent this one and watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/172 "2014-08-12T06:46:11Z")
Haven’t read the whole thread which is rare for me since getting burned as a newcomer so here goes… He was a manic ad libber who only voiced what his brain thought. He was brilliant and sometimes maudlin because he cared so much. _Funny love._ Sometimes everything isn’t enough. I hate to hear he’s dead (still can’t absorb it) but it strengthens me to know he went out his way. Who the hell wants to die of old age? (A terminal disease we all have.) The voices are quiet tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/173 "2014-08-12T07:10:13Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Roger Ebert was and may always be the deepest hurt for me in terms of celebrity deaths, but I do admit that Robin Williams is a huge shock, especially suicide. Probably the same for me with Ebert, but I felt like I did see that one coming, as sick as he’d been. Philip Seymour Hoffman and now Robin Williams were just plain shockers. EDIT: And John Lennon of course. Boy do I remember that night. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/174 "2014-08-12T07:14:39Z")
One of my favorite Robin Williams moments was [this clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJAbr5SZcsQ) from Inside the Actor’s Studio, where he borrowed a lady’s pink scarf and did nothing but riff on it for five minutes. It was always amazing to watch these random jokes come spewing out of him, all completely off the top of his head, like some massive comedic volcano that couldn’t be contained. His death is a terrible shock and he’ll forever be missed. Oh and BY THE WAY, without pointing fingers or naming names, it’s my not so humble opinion that people who call suicide “a selfish act” are themselves the most self-centered and insensitive people in the world. It’s like, their attitude is, other people only exist to make themselves feel better, and they would rather a friend or celebrity put up with intolerable pain, rather than experience the sadness of losing them. Why don’t you all complain about George Carlin, how DARE he allow his heart to attack him, or Richard Pryor for selfishly contracting M.S.??? C’mon, at least be consistent. :mad: ---
**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, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/175 "2014-08-12T07:39:53Z")
I truly hope it never happens to someone you deeply love, 'cause if it did, I promise you, 27 years later it would still rip at you. Especially on a day like today. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/176 "2014-08-12T07:40:17Z")
Dammit. Looks like depression claims another. > [@Bullitt](#): > > I also enjoyed his dramatic work in _The World According to Garp_ (really enjoyed that movie; IIRC it might’ve been one of John Lithgow’s earliest roles) and also _Good Will Hunting_ as I posted earlier. > [@lorene](#): > > I loved him in Garp. Like most of us, I was introduced to Robin Williams through Mork and Mindy, but _The World According to Garp_ showed me he was a serious dramatic actor with real talent there, too. This makes me sad. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/177 "2014-08-12T07:58:01Z")
Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto in una smorfia il singhiozzo e 'l dolor, Ah! Ridi, Pagliaccio, sul tuo amore infranto! Ridi del duol, che t’avvelena il cor! ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/178 "2014-08-12T07:58:19Z")
FUCK!!! Fuck, fuck, fuck. Always watched anything he did, I even liked him in Othello. ☹ As mentioned, World According to Garp… I’m sobbing now. After the plane crashes, lets buy the house! Chances of this happening twice are insurmountable. I’m misquoting, but that’s when we really saw him acting as a grown up and an awesome costar for the kids. Damn it!! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/179 "2014-08-12T08:18:29Z")
So sad. But I’m going to remember you smiling. Rest in peace, Robin. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/180 "2014-08-12T10:38:43Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > When I heard “Robin Williams died” and “Depression”, the first thing I though of was: > > _ **Sono Grimaldi!** _ The Tonetti brothers (not their legal name) were the clowns of my childhood, by the time the Aragón family entered Spanish televisions I was already too old and serious for children’s programs. Owners of Circo Atlas, where my mother first felt me moving (during their number) on the same day she’d won a doll that happened to have the same name they’d chosen “if it’s a girl”, whenever we went to their circus we’d stop for a few words with them. I specially remember Mr. Tonetti’s kindness on the year I’d had my tonsils out, my voice still wasn’t back completely on that day. The older brother was the “rednose”, the dumb one who somehow managed to fall down without going boom, the younger one the serious “whiteface”. And the whole country went into shock when the younger one commited suicide, in 1982. Being able to make others laugh does not mean that you are laughing ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333.md?page=10)