lifestyle WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13 , 2014 TributeWilliams a comic force, versatile actor

he question from a fan in a Sirius XM interview last year This April 6, 2008 file photo shows actor-comedian Robin was innocent - what do you think you’d be doing if you Williams speaks on stage at the ‘Idol Gives Back’ fundraising Tdidn’t become a comedian? - and within seconds Robin special of ‘American Idol’ in Los Angeles.—AP/AFP photos Williams was impersonating physicist Stephen Hawking get- ting a lap dance at a strip club. “Now don’t sit on the key- board!” Williams said, coaxing laughs from a few dozen people in a studio. How did he get there? Explaining it would take twice as long as it took to actually happen. Would anyone else in the world have made such a leap? Not a chance. Williams, who died in an apparent suicide Monday, was a comic force of nature. The world got to know him as the wild alien in “Mork & Mindy,” a comedian who elevated improvisation to an art form and also demonstrated a rare versatility in more serious roles. He moved seamlessly from comedy to drama to tragedy to comedy again during a Hollywood heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. His Academy Award as a supporting actor in “Good Will Hunting” came in a drama.

Funniest man alive In 1997, Entertainment Weekly magazine named Williams This 1987 file photo released by Touchstone Pictures shows the funniest man alive, and the very next year listed him as actor in character as disc-jockey Adrian one of the world’s 25 best actors - a double distinction that Cronauer in director Barry Levinsons comedy drama, “Good made him rare, if not unique. He touched every generation Morning Vietnam.” and demographic, making his entrance in a 1970s comic gen- eration with , John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Billy Crystal. He exploded onto the scene at a time when two schools of comedy dominated - “Saturday Night Live” and Johnny Carson - and Williams felt equally comfortable running with both crowds. Williams was the voice of a genie in “Aladdin” and a hyper disc jockey in “Good Morning Vietnam.” In “Mrs Doubtfire,” he played a dad who dressed as a woman to see his kids, and in “Birdcage,” he played a gay man. He was an English teacher in “Dead Poets Society,” a scientist in “Awakenings” and a prison- er of war in “Jakob the Liar.” In this year’s independent film, “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn,” Williams played a man mistak- enly told he had 90 minutes to live. On a stage, in front of the lights, is where Williams shined This March 27, 2010 file photo shows actor Robin Williams most brightly. The riffs, tangents and impersonations came speaking at The 24th American Cinematheque Awards honor- rushing at the audience, a seemingly endless torrent. It looked ing Matt Damon in Beverly Hills, Calif. like onstage cocaine, a drug he abused in real life and, of course, made part of his comedy. “Cocaine is God’s way of telling you you are making too much money,” he would say. On a talk show, hosts knew Williams barely needed to be wound up. Sometimes, he needed only an audience of one: Williams visited Christopher Reeve a week after the actor’s horseback riding accident, dressed in scrubs with a sur- gical mask and speaking in a Russian accent. This March 23, 1998 file photo shows Robin Williams holding his Oscar high back- Different generation stage at the 70th Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles after he The roles became less prominent as he aged and a differ- won Best Supporting Actor for “Good Will Hunting.” ent generation took the spotlight. Last year. CBS cast him as the star of a sitcom, “The Crazy Ones,” in which Williams played the colorful elder statesman at a Chicago ad agency. The net- work had high hopes for the comedy, which also starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, but they quickly faded and the show was can- celled after one season. That didn’t make Williams unique - Michael J Fox also failed A file picture taken on November 15, 2005 shows US actor in a recent return to television - but it was an indication that Robin Williams posing during a photocall of ‘The Big White’ Williams was no longer a sure ticket to success. Like many directed by Mark Mylod, in Rome. comedians, Williams often seemed driven by demons. He had a complicated personal life, suffered from depression and was treated for substance abuse, most recently earlier this sum- mer. He did a few lines of cocaine with John Belushi on the last night of that comic’s life.

Stand-up comedy A darkness seeped in during an interview with comedian Marc Maron in 2010, where Williams seemingly dismissed what would be a career highlight for many actors. “People say you’re an Academy Award winner,” he said. “The Academy Award lasted about a week and then one week later, people went, ‘Hey Mork!’” Stand-up comedy was where Williams got the most satisfaction. “You get the feedback,” Williams said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press. “There’s an energy. It’s live theater. That’s why I think actors like that. You know, musicians need it, comedians definitely need it. It doesn’t mat- A file picture taken on December 16, 2010 shows US actor ter what size and what club, whether it’s 30 people in the club Robin Williams and US celebrity Lewis Black laughing in the or 2,000 in a hall or a theater. It’s live, it’s symbiotic, you need back stage during the entertaining performance of ‘Holiday it.” Troop Visit” by US celebrities for Christmas at boardwalk stage In the 2013 Sirius appearance with , his of the Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan. comic colleague had no trouble encouraging a visit from Elmer Fudd, one of the many voices Williams could instantly A file picture taken on November 13, 2011 shows US actor Robin Williams and his slip into. Instantly, “Elmer” was singing Bruce Springsteen: daughter Zelda posing on arrival for the world premiere of the movie ‘Happy Feet “I’m dwivin’ in my car...” Ultimately, Williams had needs no Two’ in Hollywood in southern California. one could meet. The millions of people he made laugh over nearly four decades in the public consciousness weren’t enough. — AP

This file photo taken on July 20, 2004 shows US cyclist chatting with US actor Robin Williams after he won the 91st Tour de France cycling race between Valreas and Villard-de-Lans.

This file photo taken on October 4, 2006 shows US actor Robin Williams and wife Marsha Garces Williams arriving for the pre- miere of Universal Pictures “Man of the Year” at Grauman’s This file photo taken on December 22, 1998 shows US Academy Award-winning This Nov. 8, 2012 file photo shows Robin Williams per- Chinese Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, forming at the 6th Annual Stand Up For Heroes benefit California. actor Robin Williams posing with family members Cody, Zelda and wife Marsha Williams outside the Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. concert for injured service members and veterans in New York.