What the Hell Happened to Robin Williams?

Note:
This article was written prior to Robin Williams’ death on August 11, 2014. The purpose of this article is to review Williams’ career as an entertainer.

At the peak of his career, Robin Williams was one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. He made the extremely rare transition from comedian to dramatic actor. What’s more, he was able to alternate between popular comedies and dramatic roles while winning awards for both. But eventually, Williams’ popularity waned. While Williams remains busy, his last starring role in a mainstream movie was in 2009.

What the hell happened?

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Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve

Williams was a quiet kid who came out of his shell when he became involved in his high school drama department.  In 1973, at the age of 22, Williams was one of only twenty students accepted into the Julliard School.  He and Christopher Reeve were the only two students accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program at the school that year.  According to Williams, Reeve showed him kindness that he would one day repay.  When asked for his favorite memory of Reeve, Williams replied:

“Him being such a great friend to me at Juillard, literally feeding me because I don’t think I literally had money for food or my student loan hadn’t come in yet, and he would share his food with me.  And then later after the accident, just seeing him beaming and just, seeing what he meant to so many people.”

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Robin Williams – Laugh-In – 1977

Williams left Julliard in 1976.  In 1977, he started appearing on TV shows like Laugh-In (pictured)and Eight is Enough.  He was a regular on the Richard Pryor Show which last only four episodes. 

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Robin Williams – Happy Days – 1978-1979

Williams had a guest spot on the popular 50’s sit-com, Happy Days.  Williams played an alien named Mork who came to Earth looking for a human specimen.  He chose Richie Cunningham to take back to his home planet of Ork.  It fell to the Fonz to save his friend from a bizarre alien abduction.  In the end, the entire episode turned out to be a dream.

The story goes that Williams was cast as Mork after meeting with producer Gary Marshall.  Marshall asked Williams to take a seat and Williams immediately sat on his head.  Marshall later commented that Williams was the only alien to audition for the role.

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Robin Williams – Mork & Mindy – 1978-1982

Williams’ guest spot on Happy Days was popular enough for Marshall to launch a spin-off show, Mork and Mindy in 1978.

(This was an exceptionally common practice at the time.  Happy Days was a spin-off from Love American Style.    In addition to Mork and Mindy, Happy Days launched six other shows: Laverne & Shirley, Blansky’s Beauties, Out of the Blue, Joanie Loves Chachi, and two cartoons.)

The new show had Mork landing on Earth in the present day of the 70s.  Instead of abducting a human specimen, Mork’s mission was to study humans and report back to his boss on Ork.  Mork was taken in by the beautiful and kind-hearted Mindy played by Pam Dawber.  Hi-jinks ensued.

There was an episode in which the character of Mork met Robin Williams the comedian.  Williams portrayed himself as a desperately needy person who could never say “no” to anyone.  He was extremely sad and vulnerable.

The Mork character was extremely popular with kids.  It launched a slew of Mork-themed merchandise.  Williams’ grinning face was everywhere.  Speaking as a kid who was part of the show’s target demographic, I loved the broad humor.  I even went as Mork for Halloween one year.

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Mork Halloween Costume

The pictures isn’t of me.  But I had this exact costume right down to the creepy Williams mask.  Although I didn’t wear the mask.  Those things were extremely uncomfortable.  And what do you need the mask for?  Batman, sure.  But Mork?  Especially when they put his face on your chest as well.  What was the point of that?  It’s not like Mork had a picture of his face (along with his name and catch phrase) on his chest.

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Robin Williams – Mork & Mindy – 1978-1982

Mork and Mindy ran through 1982.  In the final season, a number of gimmicks were used to try to save the show.  Mork and Mindy got married and had a son.  Because of his alien physiology, their son aged backwards which allowed them to cast comedy legend Jonathan Winters as a child in the body of an old man.

The gimmicks did not result in increased ratings.  The show ended on a cliff-hanger.  In the first two parts of a three-part story, Mindy’s apartment was destroyed and the family was on the run from a hostile alien.  The conclusion to the story was never filmed.

The final episode of the show to air was filmed before the cliff-hanger and did not resolve the dangling plot thread – much to the chagrin this particular Mork and Mindy fan.  (I spent years trying to figure out whether or not I had missed the conclusion.  Turns out, I hadn’t.)

While Mork and Mindy was still on the air, Williams was also working as a stand-up comic.  He filmed an his first HBO special, Off the Wall, in 1978.

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Robin Williams – Popeye – 1980

 In 1980, Williams made the jump to the big screen in Robert Altman’s musical take on the popular cartoon strip, Popeye.

Popeye is an odd and uneven mix of adult sensibilities with what is ostensibly a children’s film.  Williams, with cartoonishly bulging forearms, makes a great live-action Popeye.  He mumbles all of his lines, but when you can understand him he is genuinely funny.  And Olive Oyl is surely the role Shelley Duvall was born to play.  But anyone expecting a brightly colored live-action cartoon was likely disappointed by the dirty, realistic look of the film.

Originally, the roles of Popeye and Olive Oyl were intended to be played by Dustin Hoffman and Gilda Radner.  Hoffman left over a dispute over the hiring of  Jules Feiffer as the scriptwriter.  Radner was the studio choice, but Altman held out for Duvall.

Popeye was co-produced by Paramount and Disney.  Their intent was to duplicate the success Warner Brothers had with Superman (starring Williams’ former classmate and close friend, Reeve).  At the time, the studios saw cartoon and comic strip characters as more or less equal.  So the thought was that Popeye should be a Superman-sized hit.

Reviews were mixed and the movie was considered a flop.  In reality, it earned back its $20 million dollar budget and then some.  But its domestic gross of just under $50 million was a disappointment to the studios involved.

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Robin Williams – The World According to Garp – 1982

In 1982, Williams took a dramatic turn in the adaptation of John Irving’s novel, The World According to Garp.

Williams played Garp, the bastard son of a feminist leader.  The movie covers his life starting with his birth.  Garp’s life is a series of tragic-comic episodes as he struggles with complex gender issues.  Glenn Close, who was only four years older than Williams, played his mother.  And John Lithgow played a transsexual friend.

Williams’ friend, Christopher Reeve, was approached to play Garp but turned the role down.

Reviews were mixed, but generally positive.  Janet Maslin of the New York Times said, “The movie is a very fair rendering of Mr. Irving’s novel, with similar strengths and weaknesses. If the novel was picaresque and precious, so is the film – although the absence of the book’s self-congratulatory streak helps the movie achieve a much lighter, more easy-going style.”

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Robin Williams – The Survivors – 1983

In 1983, Williams starred opposite Walter Matthau in the comedy, The Survivors.

Williams and Matthau play two hard-luck cases who become heroes when they meet at a bar and prevent a robbery.  The robber escapes and tries to take revenge which sends the two men to a survival camp where they learn to defend themselves.  And maybe, just maybe, they learn a little something about friendship too.

The Survivors received negative reviews and flopped at the box office.  Many critics complained that Williams’ and Matthau’s comedic styles were not complimentary.

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Robin Williams – Moscow on the Hudson – 1984

 In 1984, Williams starred as a Russian immigrant in Paul Mazursky’s comedy-drama, Moscow on the Hudson.

Williams played a saxophone-playing circus performer who defects to the US.  The movie deals with his struggles to adjust to American culture.

To prepare, Williams spent a year learning to speak Russian.  He also spent several months learning to play the sax.  Reportedly, he picked up both skills very quickly.

Moscow on the Hudon received good reviews and was a modest hit at the box office.  Williams was nominated for his first Golden Globe.

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Robin Williams and Kurt Russell – The Best of Times – 1986

In 1986, Williams co-starred opposite Kurt Russell in the football comedy, The Best of Times.

Williams played a banker who is can’t get over the day he dropped a perfect pass during a big high school football game.  He believes that if he had caught the ball, his life would be better.  Thirteen years later, he convinces both teams to stage a rematch.

The Best of Times was written by Ron Shelton who went on to write and direct several sports movies including Bull Durham, White Men Can’t Jump and Tin Cup.  It was directed by Roger Spottiswoode who is Canadian and didn’t have the best grasp of American football.  Williams later admitted that he may not have been the best choice to direct the film.

The movie received mostly negative reviews and flopped at the box office.

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Robin Williams – Club Paradise – 1986

Later that year, Williams starred opposite Peter O’Toole in Harld Ramis’ tropical comedy, Club Paradise.

Williams played a firefighter who is injured on the job and uses his disability money to retire to a small island in the Caribbean.  There, he meets and befriends a reggae musician with whom he markets Club Paradise as a tourist spot.

Originally, the main roles were written for Bill Murray and John Cleese.  The rest of the cast includes several SCTV alumni including Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty and Robin Duke.  Ramis and co-writer Brian Doyle-Murray were also on SCTV.

One of the writers credited with the story is Ed Roboto.  This is actually a pseudonym for  Harry Shearer who did a re-write of the film.  According to Shearer, the only contribution he made to the movie that ended up being used was the title.  Disgusted with the final film, he demanded that his name be removed from the credits.

As you might expect given its troubled background, Club Paradise received negative reviews and flopped at the box office.  Following the failure of Club Paradise, Ramis would not direct another movie for seven years.

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Robin Williams – Seize the Day – 1986

Also in 1986, Williams took a dramatic turn as an out-of-work salesman in Seize the Day.

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Robin Williams – Comic Relief

Williams also joined Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg as hosts for the first Comic Relief.  The trio of actors continued hosting specials on HBO to raise money for the homeless for many years.

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Robin Williams – Good Morning, Vietnam – 1987

In 1987, Williams bounced back in a big way starring in Barry Levinson’s Good Morning, Vietnam.

Williams played military DJ Adrian Cronauer who lightens up the war with his blend of irreverent humor and rock and roll music.  The real-life Cronauer originally pitched his idea for a TV sitcom.  But the networks were not interested.  Then he wrote a draft as a TV movie of the week which attracted Williams to the project.

With Williams attached, Cronauer’s script was re-written from scratch.  The final product is described by Cronauer as “45% accurate”.  In reality, Cronauer did not use comedy in his show, he was not anti-war and he was not kicked out of the military.

Levinson allowed Williams to improvise his broadcasts which allowed Williams to cut loose in a way his scripted roles did not.

Reviews were positive and the movie was a big hit.  Williams was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe.

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Robin Williams – The Adventures of Baron Munchausen – 1988

In 1988, Williams had a cameo role in Terry Gilliam’s mad fantasy, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was a famously troubled movie.  Like most Gilliam movies, the flights of fancy put the film over budget.  A regime change at the studio meant that its US distributors weren’t especially excited about promoting Munchausen.  So they dumped it in relatively few theaters with little fanfare.

Sean Connery was originally attached to play the King of the Moon.  He had made a similar cameo in Gilliam’s Time Bandits.  But when the part was cut down, Connery backed out claiming the role wasn’t very “kingly”.

Although Baron Munchausen flopped in the US, it fared better overseas.  Reviews were mostly positive and the film has developed a cult following.

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Robin Williams – Dead Poets Society – 1989

In 1989, Williams took a flashy supporting role in Peter Weir’s coming of age drama, Dead Poets Society.

Williams played an unconventional teacher at a private school for boys in the late 50’s.  Like Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society allowed Williams to break into his improvisational comedy while giving lectures to his class.  It also allowed Williams to give his most restrained dramatic performance to date.

Originally, Jeff Kanew (best known for Revenge of the Nerds) was scheduled to direct.  Kanew pushed for Liam Neeson to play the inspirational teacher.  But Disney wanted Robin Williams.

Williams wanted to make the movie, but not with Kanew.  So he ended up playing a game of chicken with the production.  He refused to commit while Kanew was the director, but he also didn’t decline.  Disney tried to pressure Williams by starting production without a firm commitment.  When the first day of shooting started, Williams didn’t show up.  According to screenwriter Tom Schulman:

“After the first day he didn’t show up, they canceled the production and burned the sets. We actually have dailies of the sets burning.”

Kanew eventually left the stalled production to make Troop Beverly Hills.  At that point, Dustin Hoffman stepped in with the intention to direct as well as star.  But due to schedule conflicts, Hoffman dropped out.  That’s when Disney hired Gibson old Gallipoli and The Year of Living Dangerously director, Peter Weir.  With Weir on board, Williams returned to the project.

The original script ended with Williams’ character dying of leukemia.  But Weir cut that in order to focus the story on the students.

Dead Poets Society received mostly positive reviews.  Roger Ebert was one prominent critic who gave the film a mixed review saying, “The movie pays lip service to qualities and values that, on the evidence of the screenplay itself, it is cheerfully willing to abandon.”  Although the movie never reached #1 at the box office, it was a sleeper hit.  Williams was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

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Robin Williams – Cadillac Man – 1990

In 1999, Williams starred opposite Tim Robbins in Cadillac Man.

Williams played a sleazy car salesman.  He’s so sleazy, he has two mistresses played by Fran Drescher and Lori Petty.  Robbins played a desperate man who holds the car dealership hostage because he believes his wife (played by Annabella Sciorra) is cheating on him.

Reviews were mixed and the movie was not a hit.

Robin Williams - Awakenings - 1990
Robin Williams – Awakenings – 1990

Later that year, Williams starred opposite Robert DeNiro in Penny Marshall’s Awakenings.  (Much was made of the fact Laverne was directing Mork.)

Williams played a doctor based on British neurologist, Oliver Sacks.  The movie was an adaptation of Sacks’ book of the same name in which he detailed his treatment of  catatonic patients.  DeNiro played Williams’ most promising patient.

Stephen Spielberg was once attached to direct.  He was impressed with Steven Zaillian’s script and later hired him to adapt Schindler’s List.  Bill Murray was interested in playing the patient role.  But Marshall was concerned that casting Williams and Murray would make people think it was a comedy.

Awakenings received mostly positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.  Williams was nominated for another Golden Globe.

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Robin Williams – Dead Again – 1991

In 1991, Williams had a cameo role in Kenneth Branagh’s reincarnation-themed thriller, Dead Again.

Branagh played an LA private investigator who is hired to help identify a woman with amnesia played by Emma Thompson. As the two try to uncover her past, they fall for each other.  Eventually, they come to suspect that they are actually reincanated from a couple that died tragically.  They turn to a disgraced psychiatrist played by Williams for help.

Williams’ part was relatively small.  He asked to have his name removed from the opening credits so audiences wouldn’t mistake the film for a comedy.

Dead Again received mostly positive reviews and was a modest hit at the box office.

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Robin Williams – The Fisher King – 1991

Later that year, Williams starred opposite Jeff Bridges in Terry Gilliam’s urban fable, The Fisher King.

Bridges played a “shock jock” whose thoughtless comments on the air lead a disturbed caller to commit mass murder.  Three years later, Bridges’ character has become despondent.  He is attacked and nearly killed by thugs, but he is saved by a homeless person played by Williams.  Bridges’ character seeks redemption by helping Williams’ character in return.

The Fisher King received good reviews and performed respectably at the box office.  Williams won his second Golden Globe for Best Actor.

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Robin Williams – Hook – 1991

Williams ended the year starring opposite Dustin Hoffman in Stephen Spielberg’s Peter Pan update, Hook.

Williams played a grown-up Peter Pan.  Dustin Hoffman played Captain Hook who kidnaps Pan’s children to lure him back to Neverland.  Unfortunately, Williams’ grown-up character has no memory of his adventures as Pan.  With the help of Tinker Bell (played by Julia Roberts) and the Lost Boys, Pan has to reconnect with his youth in order to save his children.

On paper, Hook looked great.  Williams always seemed like an aging Peter Pan anyway.  Spielberg had been phenomenally successful making films for kids.  Toss in Hoffman at the peak of his popularity and Roberts just as her star was on the rise and Hook seemed like a sure-fire hit.

I recall reading a cover article in Premiere Magazine when Hook came out.  They talked a lot about the magnificent Neverland sets which cost a fortune.  Everyone on the set was convinced that they were making a timeless masterpiece.  They were absolutely certain Hook would be watched over and over again for generations like The Wizard of Oz.

Williams, Spielberg and Hoffman were so confident that they gave up their salaries in favor of a percentage deal.  It turned out to be a bad trade-off.  Hook was a bloated mess of a movie.  Reviews were mostly negative.  While the film did turn a profit, it did not perform up to expectations.

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Robin Williams – Shakes the Clown – 1992

In 1992, Williams was all over the place.  He had a cameo role as a mime instructor in Bobcat Goldthwait’s directorial debut, Shakes the Clown.

He also did voice work in the animated feature, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest which included the voices of Tim Curry and Christian Slater.

Robin Williams - Aladdin - 1992
Robin Williams – Aladdin – 1992

In 1992, Williams also did voice work for Disney’s animated feature, Aladdin.  Williams provided the Genie’s voice for scale – the lowest wage a studio can pay an actor).  He did this on several conditions.  He did not want his voice used for merchandise and he didn’t want his character to take up more than 25% of the film’s poster.  Williams had another family film which would be released a few weeks later and he didn’t want it to have to compete with Aladdin.

Disney broke all of these promises immediately.  I recall Disney sent me a huge promotional poster that featured nothing but Williams’ Genie character.  His voice was used for toys for the Christmas season.  Williams was furious.  He refused to have anything further to do with Disney.

A  few years later, Disney decided to make direct-to-video sequels to Aladdin.  Williams refused to reprise his role so the part was recast with Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer Simpson).  Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, sent Williams a peace-offering in the form of a Picasso painting.  Williams refused the gift.

Eventually, Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg was fired and replaced by Joe Roth.  Roth issued a public apology and promised to do right by Williams.  This time, Williams accepted the apology and agreed to return for the second Aladdin sequel.  Disney was thrilled.  Even though Castellaneta had already recorded the Genie’s voice, Disney allowed Williams to re-record them.  This time, Williams did not work for scale.

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Robin Williams – Toys – 1992

Williams ended the year by reuniting with his Good Morning, Vietnam director, Barry Levinson, for the anti-war Christmas movie, Toys.

Williams played the son of a dying toy maker.  The soul of his father’s toy company depends on his ability to step up and take control of the company.  Otherwise, it will fall into the hands of the toy maker’s militant brother who plans to build an army of war toys.

Toys aims for whimsy and over-shoots by several miles.  What is meant to be charming ends up being grating.  Especially when the heavy-handed anti-war message kicks in.  The movie ends with a war between the old-fashioned toys and the military monstrosities.  It feels like Dr. Strangelove for the toddler set.

Reviews were mostly negative and the movie flopped at the box office.

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Robin Williams – Mrs. Doubtfire – 1993

In 1993, Williams rebounded with Chris Columbus’ high-concept comedy, Mrs. Doubtfire.

Williams played an out-of-work voice actor who dresses in drag and poses as a British housekeeper in order to spend more time with his kids.  It’s the kind of movie where the biggest laugh comes from setting Williams’ fake boobs on fire.

Reviews were mostly positive.  And the movie was a smash hit.  It was the highest-grossing movie Williams ever starred in.  Not only that, he won another Golden Globe.

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Robin Williams – Being Human – 1994

In 1994, Williams starred in Being Human, a quiet movie about the human condition.  The movie consists of five fables from different points in history.  It’s the kind of movie that Williams seemed to be attracted to.  It’s also the kind of movie audiences avoid and studios hate.

Warner Bros spent $40 million on Being Human.  When they saw the first cut, they demanded changes.  The movie’s run time was cut by 40 minutes, narration was added as well as a happy ending.  The changes were for naught.  The movie got mixed reviews and flopped at the box office.

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Robin Williams – Nine Months – 1995

In 1995, Williams was huge.  He was so in demand, he was appearing everywhere.  He had a supporting role in Nine Months, a pregnancy-themed comedy which starred Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore.  Williams hammed it up as a Russian OB-GYN.

Just before the release of Nine Months, star Grant was involved in a scandal for picking up prostitute Divine Brown.  Grant appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno to promote the movie and issued a very caddish apology for his bad behavior.  Audiences couldn’t resist Grant’s British charm.  Grant recovered from the scandal and The Tonight Show saw a rating spike.

In spite of bad reviews and public scandal, Nine Months was a hit at the box office.

Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve
Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve

Around this same time, Williams’ friend, Christopher Reeve, was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident.  Williams came to visit Reeve at the hospital.  To cheer him up, he went into his Russian doctor schtick and claimed to be performing a colonoscopy.  Reeve recalled the visit in his autobiography:

“As the day of the operation drew closer, it became more and more painful and frightening to contemplate.  In spite of efforts to protect me from the truth, I already knew that I had only a fifty-fifty chance of surviving the surgery. I lay on my back, frozen, unable to avoid thinking the darkest thoughts. Then, at an especially bleak moment, the door flew open and in hurried a squat fellow with a blue scrub hat and a yellow surgical gown and glasses, speaking in a Russian accent. He announced that he was my proctologist, and that he had to examine me immediately. My first reaction was that either I was on way too many drugs or I was in fact brain-damaged. But it was Robin Williams. He and his wife, Marsha, had materialized from who knows where. And for the first time since the accident, I laughed. My old friend had helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay.  And then we spent time together.  He said he would do anything for me. I thought: My God, not only do I have Dana and my kids but I have friends like Robin and Gregory [Mosher] who truly care. Maybe it can be okay. I mean, life is going to be very different, and it’s going to be an enormous challenge, but I can still laugh, and there’s still some joy.”

Reeve summed up his friendship with Williams:

“My friendship with Robin Williams is one of the real joys of my life.  Robin is a person who gives to people 24 hours a day. The gift of joy, the gift of laughter. Just to be in a room with Robin Williams is a privilege. He’s a gift to the world.”

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Robin Williams – To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar – 1995

Williams also popped up in a cameo role in the drag comedy, To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar.

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Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst – Jumanji – 1995

Williams ended 1995 by starring in the big screen family adventure film, Jumanji.

Jumanji was based on a popular children’s book in which a board game brings the dangers of the jungle to life.  Williams played a man who had been trapped inside the game for twenty-six years.  Bonnie Hunt played Williams’ childhood friend.  And a young Kirsten Dunst played one of the children who sets the game loose.

The special effects-driven movie got mixed reviews but was a hit at the box office.

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Robin Williams – The Birdcage – 1996

In 1996, Williams’ starred in Mike Nichols’ remake of the French farce, La Cage aux Folles, The Birdcage.

Williams and Nathan Lane played a gay couple whose son is engaged to the daughter of a conservative Republican senator from Ohio (is there any other kind?) played by Gene Hackman.  The daughter, played by Calista Flockhart, lies to her parents to make her fiance’s life sound more traditional.  Williams and Lane are forced to act out the lies when the senator and his wife (Diane Wiest) come to visit.

Originally, Steve Martin was cast in Williams role and Williams was to play Lane’s part.  But when Martin dropped out due to a schedule conflict, Williams asked to be recast in the less flamboyant role.  Nichols agreed and cast Broadway actor Lane opposite Williams.  Lane and Williams were both known for improvisation, so Nichols insisted they get at least one good take per scene according to the script before he would allow them to improvise.

The Birdcage got positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.

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Robin Williams – Jack – 1996

Williams followed up The Birdcage with Francis Ford Coppola’s dreadful “comedy”, Jack.

Williams played Jack, a boy with a rare disease that causes him to age four times faster than normal.  So at age 10, he looks like Robin Williams.  This allowed Williams to do his boy-in-a-middle-aged-man schtick.

Because of similarities to Big, Tom Hanks was the first choice for the role.  But unlike Big, Jack is a terrible movie.  The broad humor isn’t very funny.  And whereas Big was a fantasy, Jack is actually racing towards an early death.  It’s a major bummer punctuated by gags like Williams farting in a can.

Despite terrible reviews, Williams’ popularity made Jack a #1 hit opening weekend.  The final box office tally was disappointing compared to other Williams vehicles.  But it still managed to be the 25th highest grossing movie of 1996.

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Robin Williams – Hamlet – 1996

Later that year, Williams returned to the role of the Genie in Disney direct to video sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves.  He also reunited with Dead Again director and co-star, Kenneth Branagh, for a cameo role in Branagh’s Hamlet.

Here’s a clip of Williams cutting up on the set:

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Robin Williams – Fathers’ Day – 1997

1997 was a very big year for Williams.  Arguably, it was the biggest year of his career.  But it started off rather poorly.  Williams starred opposite his long time friend and Comic Relief co-host, Billy Crystal in Ivan Reitman’s Father’s Day.

Crystal and Williams played two very different men who are both told by the same woman that they are the father of her son.  The two men team up to find the missing boy and determine who is the real father.

To promote the movie, Williams and Crystal made several appearances including one on Friends.  Their appearance is completely unrelated to the rest of the episode.  They play two guys who happen to run into the gang at Central Perk.  Williams does his schtick while Crystal plays straight man.

But nothing could save Father’s Day.  Reviews were terrible and the movie flopped.

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Robin Williams – Flubber – 1997

Fortunately, Williams had patched things up with Disney.  Later that year, he starred in Disney’s remake of the 1961 comedy, The Absent-Minded Professor.

The remake was written by John Hughes and given the more marketable name of Flubber.  Williams played an absent-minded professor who invents a miraculous substance called Flubber – so named because it is like flying rubber.

Flubber followed the pattern of the special-effects-heavy family film, Jumaji.  Like that film, reviews were negative.  But families turned out in droves and made Flubber a hit.

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Robin Williams and Rick Moranis – Imagination Institute at Epcot

Williams’ performance in Flubber is imortalized in the Imagination Institute at Disney’s Epcot alongside Eric Idle and Rick Moranis (as Honey I Shrunk the Kids inventor, Wayne Szalnski).   Note to Disney: It’s time to update Epcot!  Future World shouldn’t look like an ode to the mid-nineties.

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Robin Williams – Good Will Hunting – 1997

Williams followed up the commercial success of Flubber with a dramatic turn in Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting.

Matt Damon, who wrote the screenplay with good pal, Ben Affleck, played a genius who works as a janitor at MIT.  Damon’s character is troubled has had run-ins with the law.  When his genius is revealed, he is put under the treatment of a psychology professor played by Williams.

Goodwill Hunting has become a piece of Hollywood legend.  Damon and Affleck got a lot of attention for writing their own screenplay when they were unable to get parts they liked.

Their original script was a thriller which involved the FBI trying to recruit Will.  Rob Reiner urged them to drop the espionage aspects of the script and to focus on the relationship between Damon and Williams’ characters.  At Reiner’s request, William Goldman read the screenplay and made further suggestions.

This has led to persistent rumors that Goldman either wrote or script doctored Good Will Hunting.  Goldman has consistently denied these rumors although he had playful fun with the idea in his book, Which Lie Did I Tell?  In the book, Goldman jokes: “I did not just doctor it. I wrote the whole thing from scratch.”

The movie was set up at Reiner’s company, Castle Rock.  While Castle Rock loved the script, they balked at the idea of Damon and Affleck acting in the film.  Fortunately, Damon and Affleck were friends with director Kevin Smith.  Smith helped his friends out by persuading Miramax to purchase Good Will Hunting from Castle Rock.

Once the movie was set up at Miramax, several directors were considered including Mel Gibson, Michael Mann and Steven Soderbergh.  Affleck asked Smith if he would be interested in directing.  Smith had the good sense to decline saying that this movie needed “a good director”.  Damon and Affleck eventually settled on Van Sant.

Good Will Hunting received positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.  It received a lot of attention come awards time.  Damon and Affleck won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for their screenplay.  Williams was nominated for a Golden Globe and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

williams - deconstructing harry
Robin Williams – Deconstructing Harry – 1997

Williams also popped up in Woody Allen’s comedy, Deconstructing Harry. 

Deconstructing Harry is one of Allen’s lesser works.  Reviews were mixed and the movie flopped at the box office.  It is notable because it allowed Williams a chance to work with yet another A-list director.

1997 is the year when everything came together.  While Williams would still have successes in his later career, he would never again reach these heights.  Williams’ career had nowhere to go but down.

Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr. - What Dreams May Come - 1998
Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr. – What Dreams May Come – 1998

In 1998 Williams starred in the metaphysical drama, What Dreams May Come.

Williams and Annabella Sciorra played a couple whose children die in a car crash.  They struggle to keep their marriage together only to have Williams’ character also die in a car crash.  Williams tries to help his widow deal with the grief, but eventually he realizes that he is only making things worse so he moves on to the afterlife.

Cuba Gooding Jr. played his spiritual advisor on the other side.  Williams’ journeys take him through Heaven and Hell without being especially interesting.

What Dreams May Come got mixed reviews and disappointed at the box office.

williams - patch adams
Robin Williams – Patch Adams – 1998

During Williams’ career, he has worked with some of the best directors in Hollywood.  He also worked with Tom Shadyac who is best known for making movies with Jim Carrey.  Shadyac decided to stretch with the medical comedy-drama, Patch Adams.  And the end result is one of the worst movies ever made.

Everything that is wrong with the movie is pictured above.  Williams plays a doctor who just wants to make people laugh.  So he puts on a clown nose which is really more annoying than funny.  The big, mean establishment frowns on Williams’ unconventional bedside manner.  So Williams has to fight the system so that doctors everywhere will be allowed to put brightly colored rubber on their noses.

The movie has the gall to use actual kids with cancer in order to pull at the heart-strings.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Patch Adams will do anything to emotionally manipulate the audience including  an awkwardly handled plot twists which moves the film into melodrama.

Everything about this movie is hacky.  In Roger Ebert’s review, he noted, “Patch Adams made me want to spray the screen with Lysol.  This movie is shameless.  It’s not merely a tearjerker.  It extracts tears individually by liposuction, without anesthesia.”

Reviews were deservedly terrible.  And yet, the movie was still a hit with audiences who had not yet tired of Williams’ mix of crude humor and pathos.

williams - jacob the liar
Robin Williams – Jakob the Liar – 1999

In 1999, Williams’ slide continued with the World War 2-era drama, Jakob the Liar.

Williams played a Jewish shop-keeper who tells fantastic lies to give hope to the residents of his Polish ghetto.  The movie was unfavorably compared to the 1997 hit, Life is Beautiful.

In his review, Roger Ebert stated, “I prefer “Life Is Beautiful,” which is clearly a fantasy, to “Jakob the Liar,” which is just as contrived and manipulative but pretends it is not… Williams is a talented performer who moves me in the right roles but has a weakness for the wrong ones. The screenplay and direction are lugubrious, as the characters march in their overwritten and often overacted roles toward a foregone conclusion.”

That sums it up much better than I ever could.  Jakob the Liar received terrible reviews and flopped at the box office.

williams - bicentennial man
Robin Williams – Bicentennial Man – 1999

In 1999, Williams reunited with his Nine Months director, Chris Columbus, for the sci-fi drama, Bicentennial Man.

Bicentennial Man was based on a book by science fiction legend, Isaac Asimov.  Williams plays a robot who over the course of 200 years becomes more and more human.

Disney was nervous about the movie’s budget which was over 100 million dollars.  They slashed the budget by $20 million which angered Williams.  When the movie was released, it flopped at the box office.  Williams blamed Disney’s budget cuts as well as their marketing which resulted in another falling out.

Reviews were mixed to negative.  Williams was nominated for his first Razzie Award for Worst Actor for the 1-2 punch of Jakob and Bicentennial Man.

williams - ai
Robin Williams and Jude Law – A.I. – 2001

In 2001, Williams appeared in a voice-over as Dr. Know in Stephen Spielberg’s A.I.

Haley Joel Osment played a robot who with the help of another robot played by Jude Law seeks to become a real boy.  Williams provided the voice for an Einstein-like hologram who helps them along in their mission.

Williams had collaborated with Spielberg previously on Hook.  But he actually recorded his performance for legendary director, Stanley Kubrick.  After Kubrick’s death, Spielberg (who was a friend of Kubrick’s) finished developing the film and directed it himself.

williams - death to smoochy
Robin Williams and Edward Norton – Death to Smoochy – 2002

In 2002, Williams starred opposite Edward Norton in Danny DeVito’s dark comedy, Death to Smoochy.

Williams played the host of a children’s TV show who is publicly disgraced for his terrible off-camera behavior.  Norton plays his replacement, a squeeky-clean Barney-like rhino named Smoochy.  Williams character goes to extreme lengths to get rid of his competition so he can get his show back.

Reviews were terrible.  Ebert said, “Only enormously talented people could have made Death to Smoochy. Those with lesser gifts would have lacked the nerve to make a film so bad, so miscalculated, so lacking any connection with any possible audience. To make a film this awful, you have to have enormous ambition and confidence, and dream big dreams.”

Death to Smoochy tanked at the box office.

williams - insomnia
Robin Williams – Insomnia – 2002

Later that year, Williams starred opposite Al Pacino in Christopher Nolan’s thriller, Insomnia.

Williams took a seriously dark turn as an author suspected of killing a 17-year-old girl.  Pacino played the unstable cop investigating the case.  However, Pacino’s character is under investigation by Internal Affairs.  Pacino’s partner informs him that he has been offered immunity to testify against him.  Then that partner is shot.  Hilary Swank played a young police officer who investigates Pacino after the shooting.

The movie was a remake of a Norwegian movie of the same name.  Erik Skjoldbjærg, the director of the original film, was happy with Nolan’s take on his movie:

When I first saw it was a very strange experience because it was quite close, stylistically, to the original. I felt lucky that it’s such a well crafted, smart film and that it had a really good director handling it, because as a remake I think it did really well and it doesn’t hurt any original if a remake is well done. So I felt I was lucky that Christopher Nolan took it upon himself to do it.

Despite positive reviews and an all-star cast, Insomnia was not a big hit at the box office.  It opened in third place behind Spider-man which had been in theaters for four weeks by that point.  Insomnia ended up grossing nearly $70 million dollars in the U.S. which was more than its production costs.  With international grosses, it managed to cross the $100 million dollar threshold.

MCDONHO FE008
Robin Williams – One Hour Photo – 2002

Later that year, Williams starred in another psychological thriller, One Hour Photo.

Williams played Sy, a desperately lonely man who works at a photo booth.  His work is his life.  Slowly, he becomes obsessed with the seemingly idyllic life of a family for whom he develops photos.

Reviews were mostly positive and One Hour Photo was a modest hit at the box office.  Williams seemed to be reinventing himself yet again.

williams - house of d
Robin Williams – House of D – 2004

In 2004, Williams’ co-starred opposite Anton Yelchin in David Duchovny’s directorial debut, House of D.

Williams played a mentally challenged janitor who befriends a young boy who will eventually grow up to be Duchovny.  The movie was screened at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival.  Reviews were negative and the movie flopped.

williams - final cut
Robin Williams and Mira Sorvino – The Final Cut – 2004

Later that year, Williams starred in the sci-fi drama, The Final Cut.

In the future, many people have implants that record their entire lives.  Williams played a “cutter” – someone responsible for editing that person’s life into a movie that will be shown at their funeral.  Mira Sorvino co-starred as his girlfriend.

Despite a premise that had a lot of potential, The Final Cut received mostly negative reviews and disappointed at the box office.

williams - robots
Robin Williams – Robots – 2005

In 2005, Williams did voice work for the non-Disney animated feature, Robots.  One gets the sense Williams would do any voice work offered to him in order to upset Disney.

Robots, which also included the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry and Greg Kinnear, got mostly positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.

williams - the big white
Robin Williams – The Big White – 2005

Later that year, Williams starred in the seriously dark comedy, The Big White.

Williams played a travel agent in debt who finds a corpse in the dumpster.  He decides to use the corpse to cash in on his missing brother’s insurance policy.  However, the corpse was the result of a mob hit and the hitmen need it to collect their pay.  In order to get their money, they kidnap Williams’ wife who was played by Holly Hunter.

Additional complications arise in the form of a determined insurance agent played by Giovanni Ribisi and the return of Williams’ missing brother played by Woody Harrelson.

Reviews were bad and the movie disappointed at the box office.

williams - rv
Robin Williams – RV – 2006

Williams’ output increased in 2006.  He started the year with Barry Sonnenfeld’s family comedy, RV.

Williams played a man who took his family to America’s Favorite Family Fun Park.  No wait, that isn’t right.  Instead, he takes his family for a trip in an RV so they can reconnect.

Reviews were negative, but RV was a small hit.

williams - night listener
Robin Williams – The Night Listener – 2006

Next, Williams starred opposite Toni Collette in the psychological thriller, The Night Listener.

Williams played a radio host who takes a call from a young boy.  The boy describes a history of sexual abuse.  He has been adopted by a woman played by Collette.  Eventually, he comes to suspect that the boy is not real.  He becomes obsessed with finding out whether or not Collette is pretending to be the troubled boy.

Reviews were mixed to negative.  The low-budget movie was barely a presence at the box office.

Williams’ also did voice work for Everyone’s Hero, a baseball-themed animated feature directed by the late, Christopher Reeve.  Reeve was working on the film when he died.  It opened to mixed reviews and moderate box office.

williams - man of the year
Robin Williams – Man of the Year – 2006

Williams also reunited with  director Barry Levinson again for the political satire, Man of the Year.

Williams plays a Jon Stewart-like political comedian who ends up running for president.  Reviews were negative and the movie disappointed at the box office.

Nicole Kidman and Robin Williams - Happy Feet - 2006
Nicole Kidman and Robin Williams – Happy Feet – 2006

Williams continued doing voice work for anyone who was not Disney.  He provided a voice for the animated hit, Happy Feet which also included the voices of Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy and Nicole Kidman.

williams - night at the museum
Robin Williams – Night at the Museum – 2006

Williams ended the year with a supporting role in the comic adventure, Night at the Museum.

Ben Stiller played a night watchman at a museum who discovers that after the museum closes, the exhibits come to life.  Williams played a wax model of Theodore Roosevelt.

Night at the Museum got mixed reviews but was a huge hit at the box office.

Robin Williams - License to Wed - 2007
Robin Williams – License to Wed – 2007

In 2007, Williams starred as an eccentric priest in the romantic comedy, License to Wed.

Mandy Moore and “Jim from The Office” (John Krasinski) played a couple who moves up their wedding from three months away to three weeks away in order to get a rare wedding slot in their church of preference.  Williams plays a priest who subjects the couple to a bizarre form of marriage counseling meant to irritate them.

Because this is a romantic comedy everyone acts like they have a head full of rocks.  Otherwise they would do the sensible thing and get married at a church where the priest wasn’t Mork.

Despite horrid reviews, License to Wed did okay at the box office.

williams - agust rush
Robin Williams – August Rush – 2007

Later that year, Williams grew in some crazy facial hair for the country music drama, August Rush.

Williams played a vagrant country musician who takes in homeless children and teaches them to play music.  He then employs them as street performers.  He takes in a new boy who is a savant.  When he recognizes the boy’s talent, he gives him the stage name August Rush and tries to promote him.  However, he is also possessive and controlling of his newfound star.

August Rush opened to mixed to negative reviews and did so-so at the box office.

williams - night of the museum 2
Robin Williams – Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian – 2009

Since the first Night at the Museum was such a big hit, Williams returned for the sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Thankfully the sequel answered all the burning questions left unanswered in the first film  Questions like… um, okay I admit I have never seen either of these movies.  But I hear kids like them pretty well.

Despite mixed reviews, the sequel was another smash hit.  It’s only a matter of time before Night of the Museum 3: Battle for More Money.

williams - world's greatest dad
Robin Williams – World’s Greatest Dad – 2009

Later that year, Williams starred in the pitch-black comedy World’s Greatest Dad which was directed by Shakes the Clown director, Bobcat Goldthwait.

Williams played a poetry teacher and frustrated author with an unruly 15-year-old son.  His son attends the school where he teaches and is constantly embarrassing him with his bad behavior.  One day, Williams finds that his son has accidentally strangled himself in an autoerotic asphyxiation accident.  To avoid embarrassment, he writes a fake suicide note to make it seem as though his son’s death was intentional.

World’s Greatest Dad received largely positive reviews.  But no surprise given its dark subject matter, it flopped at the box office.

John Travolta and Robin Williams - Old Dogs - 2009
John Travolta and Robin Williams – Old Dogs – 2009

Williams once again made peace with Disney.  He was inducted into the Disney Hall of Fame as a Disney Legend.  As part of their reforged partnership, Williams starred opposite John Travolta in the Disney comedy, Old Dogs.

Travolta and Williams play pals who have their world turned upside down when Williams’ ex shows up with twins.  She informs Williams that the twins are his and she need him to take care of them while she serves time in jail for environmental work.  And then, for some reason. Seth Green is raped by a gorilla and Walt Disney spins in his grave (or he would if he wasn’t cremated).

Okay, it’s possible the gorilla rape was merely implies by the trailer, the poster and all the film’s promotional material.  Due to horrible reviews, I haven’t watched Old Dogs.  Gorilla rape just doesn’t make me laugh the way it does some people.  But enough people wanted to see Seth Green raped by a gorilla to make Old Dogs a modest financial success.

williams - happy feet 2
Robin Williams – Happy Feet 2 -2011

In 2011, Williams leant his voice to Happy Feet 2.  The sequel was less successful than the original.

Robin Williams - The Big Wedding - 2013
Robin Williams – The Big Wedding – 2013

In 2013, Williams appeared as part of an elderly ensemble in The Big Wedding.

Once again, Williams plays a priest.  The ensemble cast includes such heavy-weights as Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon.  Somehow Katherine Heigl snuck past security and made it into the movie.

The Big Wedding received negative and reviews and flopped at the box office.

Robin Williams - Lee Daniels' The Butler - 2013
Robin Williams – Lee Daniels’ The Butler – 2013

Later that year, Williams had a cameo role in the drama, Lee Daniels’ The Butler.  Williams’ Good Morning Vietnam co-star Forest Whitaker, played a White House Butler who served eight consecutive presidents.  Williams played Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Robin Williams - Face of Love - 2013
Robin Williams – Face of Love – 2013

Williams also had a supporting role in the drama, The Face of Love.

Annette Bening starred as widow who begins a romantic relationship with a man who looks exactly like her late husband played by Ed Harris in a dual role.  Williams played a neighbor who was interested in starting a relationship with Bening himself until the arrival of her new love interest.

Reviews were mostly negative.  The Face of Love never received a wide theatrical release.

williams - the crazy ones
Robin Williams – the Crazy Ones – 2013-2014

Later that year, Williams returned to TV on the CBS sit-com The Crazy Ones.  Williams played an eccentric ad exec who works with his daughter played by Sarah Michelle Gellar.  The move to TV seemed to be an acknowledgment that Williams is no longer the box office draw he once was.

Ratings for the new show started off strong which was a testament to audience’s appetite for Williams’ brand of comedy.  But the show wasn’t as good as its star and those ratings fell.  The Crazy Ones was cancelled after only one season.

Robin Williams - The Angriest Man in Brooklyn - 2014
Robin Williams – The Angriest Man in Brooklyn – 2014

In 2014, William starred in the dark indie comedy, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn.

He played a miserable man who discovers he has a terminal illness.  He presses his doctor, played by Mila Kunnis, for an estimate of how much time he has left.  She blurts out that his has only and hour and a half to live and he sets about putting his affairs in order.  Peter Dinklage played Williams’ brother.

The movie was universally panned and was not released theatrically.

On August 11, 2014, Robin Williams took his own life.  Williams struggled very publicly with depression and substance abuse.  He had checked himself into rehab to keep from falling off the wagon not long before his death.  Depression is a misunderstood disease.  And unfortunately, it has claimed another life.  Williams left us with an amazing body of work to remember him by.  Since his passing, we have heard countless stories of his immense talent and generosity.  There is no doubt that he will be missed.

Robin Williams - A Merry Friggin' Christmas - 2014
Robin Williams – A Merry Friggin’ Christmas – 2014

Following Williams’ passing there were still a few movies he had participated in which had yet to be released.  A few months after his death, the dark comedy, A Merry Friggin’ Christmas, was released to theaters with little fanfare.

Reviews for the comedy, which starred Joel McHale and Lauren Graham, were negative with several reviewers noting that Williams’ presence was an unfortunate reminder of his passing.

Robin Williams - Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb - 2014
Robin Williams – Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb – 2014

Later that year, Williams appeared in the final movie in the Night at the Museum series, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.

The final Night at the Museum movie received mixed to negative reviews.  Several critics complained that the sequel didn’t bring anything new to the table.  The movie opened in second place at the box office behind The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.  In the US, it failed to recoup its production costs, but it performed much better in foreign markets.

This was Williams’ final on-screen appearance in a movie that received a wide release.

Robin Williams - Boulevard - 2015
Robin Williams – Boulevard – 2015

Boulevard premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014 and was given a limited theatrical run the following year.  Williams played a man who has lived a small, comfortable life.  But one day while driving aimlessly he meets a troubled young man.  He himself confronting the fact that is life to date has been based on a lie.

Boulevard received mixed reviews from critics, but Williams’ performance was praised.

Williams’ final movie role will be voicing a talking dog in the Simon Pegg comedy, Absolutely Anything.

This is usually the part where I ask “so, what the hell happened?”  The phrasing of the question seems a bit flippant given Williams’ passing.  But I do want to examine what happened to Williams’ movie career.  Williams was able to do something which very few comedians ever achieve.  He made the transition from being a funny man to a respected dramatic actor.

For a time, Williams was able to alternate between crowd-pleasing comedies and award-winning dramas.  But over time, the comedies weren’t as successful and the dramas weren’t as highly regarded.  Even so, I have to confess I was shocked by how many of Williams’ later movies were not the box office disasters I had assumed they were.  Late in his career, Williams was no longer hitting home runs.  But most of his movies were base hits.  Since Bicentennial Man, his movies had low enough budgets that they didn’t need to make a lot of money at the box office.

Over time, I think Williams’ comedy shtick wore out its welcome.  Fortunately, he was able to reinvent himself as a dramatic actor.  But then all of his sappy, “uplifting” movies got tiresome too.  When that happened, Williams went dark.  Amazingly, he was able to pull that off as well.  Until audiences got sick of edgy Williams.  Eventually, all that left him was the sanitized family friendly Williams.  That phase of his career was his least interesting, but at least it was consistent.

In the end, Williams left us with several great movies.  He gave us a lot of laughter and maybe an insight or two into the human condition.  He will be missed.

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Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

What has happened to Robin Williams?: http://atthemovieswithbillyandbrian.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/what-has-happened-to-robin-williams/ In a follow up to my article on the sad decline of Robert DeNiro’s film career and legacy, I have decided to report on the equally sad decline of Mr. Robin Williams. In a career that has included 4 Oscar nominations (and 1 Oscar win), 2 Emmys, 4 Golden Globes, and 2 SAG awards, Robin Williams has had success in both dramatic and comedic roles. Having studied at Juilliard from 1973-1976, Williams studied with revered acting teacher John Houseman and easily mastered dialects. It was soon after that he was cast by Garry… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

10 Actors Who Are Nowhere Near As Great As They Used To Be: http://whatculture.com/film/10-actors-who-are-nowhere-near-as-great-as-they-used-to-be.php/7 4. Robin Williams Robin Williams is a god. He is comedy royalty. He changed the face of comedy into something more than just pie-in the-face, although he was still good for a pie-in-the face laugh. Robin Williams, the comedian, is an icon. He also seems to have created the “comedy actors career trajectory path.” This path leads from struggling stand-up comedian to TV success to movie success to curious movie choices (usually heavy dramatic fare) to attempts to reclaim the funny but never rising again to… Read more »

Dave B
Dave B
10 years ago

Robin Williams really is a versatile actor. But you are right, his funny stuff did get old. I saw World’s Greatest Dad and loved it. I thought Williams was great in it. Also, he needs to stay as far away as possible from movies that are going to cast him as priests! Great article.

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

I’m surprised that LeBeau didn’t mention Robin’s appearance in the video for Bobby McFerrin’s #1 Billboard hit from 1988 “Don’t Worry Be Happy”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

I remember when “Don’t Worry Be Happy” was featured on “Beavis & Butt-Head”. When Beavis & Butt-Head recognized “Mrs. DoubtFIRE”, Beavis said that he didn’t think that Robin (although they never actually referred to him by his actual name) was really funny. Butt-Head replied that Robin Williams always has to talk really fast so you wouldn’t notice that he’s not really that funny.

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

I do wonder if “Patch Adams” was the tipping point in which most people started to turn on Robin Williams. Nostalgia Critic: Patch Adams: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktqarGsk4wk The Nostalgia Critic’s review even makes fun of how Robin Williams during his ’90s era movies had to make some emotional speech in front of a crowded room (to the point in which it became cliched) at the end (such as this as well as “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Jack”). Audiences were getting sick of seeing Robin in these sort of maudlin type of movies so he tried to overcompensate by going to the other extreme… Read more »

Dan
Dan
10 years ago

I doubt it (Patch Adams was a big winner with Moviegoers). I think like any actor, his popularity declined simply because of his age.
He’s basically doing the same shtick over and over again, and he refused to grow up with his audience. Happens to most actors.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

With Jack, Coppola gave Robin Williams his sentimental nadir: http://thedissolve.com/features/forgotbusters/237-with-jack-coppola-gave-robin-williams-his-sentimen/ Robin Williams is, by all accounts, a lovely human being. He’s an accomplished, Academy Award-winning dramatic actor and an international comedy superstar who for decades now has been beloved by millions. Yet for some, Williams inspires a level of contempt and vitriol better suited to genocidal dictators and child-rapists than hirsute funnymen. Detractors don’t just dislike Williams, they despise him. I suspect that’s because there are few qualities more off-putting than publicly broadcasting your need for validation. Williams has always been among our most shamelessly needy entertainers. Loud, profuse laughter… Read more »

RB
RB
10 years ago

Another intriguing installment in the series, and great retrospective. I think it makes sense what you are saying about how a comic’s shtick can get cold, and it seems to be the Achilles heel of many a comedian. But at least he has gotten to be more versatile and ride out the inevitable fall from height, a little more gracefully. “Mrs Doubtfire” seems to be on TV endlessly and we actually saw it a week or so ago. It really illustrates well, both his talent for physical comedy (A+) and being serious (B+). I can’t think of anyone in the… Read more »

RB
RB
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I must confess Lebeau, you will find RV to be somewhat formulaic. OK there are shameless Vacation ripoffs in it. But let me put it this way. If you are in need of family entertainment for an evening, the Lebeau offspring will be screaming with laughter, and the Lebeau parental units will not be bored, but will probably not watch it more than once.

johnny88
10 years ago

Robin Williams is one of the actor I litterally grew up with. I grew up as a child with many of the movies you mentioned here. So thanks for this article. Tough unfortunately many of his late works are pretty embarassing, however I’m also surprised that his late movies have not be the box-office bomb I thought.

johnny88
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Sorry for absence, but I’ve been very busy. I’m finishingi university so, it’s pretty tough now 😀
Things in Italy? Well, it appears like we will have a functioning government in the next days, so the party is over unfortunately 🙁 😉

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Which Actor/Actress Has Had The Biggest Fall From Grace Since Burt Reynolds?: http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=253647 Harrison Ford: In my opinion, Harrison Ford has had a fall from grace that is even bigger than the one suffered by Burt Reynolds. Ranked in 1997 by Empire Magazine as the biggest film star of all time, Ford has since starred in 12 films. Of those 12 films, only 3 have made over $100 million domestically (and Cowboys and Aliens shouldn’t even count since it barely made it over this threshold and couldn’t recoup its $163 million budget through domestic receipts alone). Once thought immune to… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

How has Harrison Ford ended up here?: http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/15300/how-has-harrison-ford-ended-up-here As his latest film limps to just $6m in its opening weekend, we look at what’s happened to the career of Harrison Ford over the past decade or so… This time ten years ago, Harrison Ford was hard at work on Robert Zemeckis’ What Lies Beneath. It was a thriller where he effectively took second billing to Michelle Pfeiffer, and by the standards of the Hollywood movie star, he took quite a bold role in the film. A risk, you’d have to call it. When it was released towards the end of… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

What happened to Harrison Ford?: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/11/harrison-ford-morning-glory-star-wars-indiana-jones.html He traversed distant galaxies with Chewbacca, shot sword-wielding assassins with Marion Ravenwood and outfoxed federal marshal Samuel Gerard all by himself. But these days all those things may as well have happened to a different actor than Harrison Ford, who in the last decade has robbed banks, sought rare cures, captained Russian subs and investigated murders of hip-hop stars, all in the land of obscurity. (“Firewall,” “Extraordinary Measures,” “K-19: The Widowmaker” and “Hollywood Homicide,” if you were trying to guess what movies those were.) This weekend’s release of “Morning Glory” painfully underscored Ford’s marginality.… Read more »

Harris Roth
Harris Roth
5 years ago

I never thought his range was great to begin with; he inhabits 2-dimensional characters in comic book movies. His best acting work was in The Conversation.

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

The Fall of Harrison Ford: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/01/23/the-fall-of-harrison-ford.html Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, Harrison Ford reigned as the unchallenged star of middle-of-the-road cinema. Almost unique in modern history, he not only created two iconic characters—Han Solo and Indiana Jones—but also managed to step away from them, into a hugely successful leading-man career in movies such as Working Girl, Patriot Games, and The Fugitive, to name a few. He excelled in grownup action roles, respectably above the pyrotechnic-driven thrills of Stallone and Schwarzenegger—but he was also able to charm as a romantic lead. As one-note as Ford’s performances were, audiences seemed never to… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I’m a huge fan of Harrison Ford, I grew up as a tremendous fan of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, and yet he avoided the career deathtrap of being pigeonholed in those roles with plenty of other enjoyable box office hits during the 80’s and 90’s. He reigned at the box office pretty consistently for many years until after What Lies Beneath in 2000, and as a lifelong fan I too have wondered to myself, WTHH to his career since then? Indy 4 was a blockbuster, but it was a shadow of the greatness of the earlier entries… Read more »

RB
RB
10 years ago

Agree D, by all definitions Harrison Ford has got to be permanent A+ list. I do think that people of a certain age, such as Ford, Williams and Chase, deserve some credit for continuing to work when they don’t have to.
What is noticeable from these bios is that men, too, eventually come up against the Hollywood aging problem where there are fewer and fewer roles. It’s just that women seem to hit this wall around 40 and men not until 65.

daffystardust
Editor
10 years ago

What I forgot was just how forgettable most of Williams’ output was between Mork & Mindy and Good Morning Vietnam. He had been famous for more than a decade by then, so it was easy to think that he was a big star that whole time, which really isn’t fully accurate. I was a big fan of Mork initially, but by the time Winters joined the show even I was aware that it was sputtering. I don’t think I ever cared whether the story got concluded. What’s Pam Dawber doing? With the backwards aging of the Winters character, they could… Read more »

tbob1
10 years ago

My opinion: Robin Williams was always at his best doing the frenetic, edge of insanity, schizophrenic routine of his. That’s why his stand up was so funny and why he was/is great on talk shows. He doesn’t even really get interviewed on Letterman, Leno, Carson etc.; he just takes over. Funny stuff. Problem is that doesn’t translate into a 90 or 120 minute movie very well. You can’t play that game for two hours and hold an audience. There are only really a couple movies I have enjoyed which include The Fisher King and Good Will Hunting. Both shamelessly tug… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Sitcoms Online Message Boards – Forums > 1970s Sitcoms > Mork & Mindy: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=4793151&postcount=2 Several factors. Robin Williams is getting older. Too lazy to look, but he is over 60 and from the article had an incredible run of films after the end of Mork and Mindy and I enjoyed a lot of his films over the years. He has had a fantastic career. Robin has been married something like three times and has been on and off the recovery road since he was a young man. Robin Williams was really incredible in Mork and Mindy. His ad-libs were so… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Looking back on “Mork & Mindy”, does anybody else agree that “Mork & Mindy” is one of the best cases of how a second season retool can really hurt a TV show: http://www.shawconnect.ca/TV/Galleries/Second_season_retools.aspx#!1368042218203_08FG1bd1Rs4qT_Mork-and-Mindy-%281978_82%29 A classic example of messing with success. Mork and Mindy was a smash in Season One, turning Robin Williams into a star. Though it ranked #3 in the ratings, the network couldn’t help meddling. They ditched the supporting cast, which included Conrad Janis as Mindy’s dad, and added deli owner Remo (Jay Thomas). Not sure that was an improvement. Also added was a new focus on a… Read more »

RB
RB
10 years ago

Well, that writer is way off about Pam Dawber. She didn’t hurt Mork and Mindy, quite the opposite. i remember many a young swain back then was totally smitten and tuned in to the show BECAUSE of her! Both she and Robin were white hot at the time but it’s kind of like the Dukes of Hazard, top rated show that people today won’t admit they used to watch religiously.

andymovieman
andymovieman
10 years ago

dead again, Mrs. doubt fire hook, bicentennial man, good will hunting, insomnia, flubber, father’s day, old dogs etc. are the only good films I enjoyed from robin williams

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
10 years ago

Great write up of his career. Recent choices like RV, Man of the Year and Old Dogs give an impression that he’s not really trying anymore, but looking over his career I gotta admire what he accomplished overall. I too grew up as a kid loving him in Mork and Mindy, but once he left that show he really showed how much talent and range he really has. His biggest comedies, Good Morning Vietnam, Aladdin and Mrs. Doubtfire, which turned out to be blockbusters, allowed him to ad-lib a fair amount, which he excels at as a comedian. What really… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I’m totally on board with the Gary Cole comment. He’s one of those character actors that I regret didn’t make it to lead actor, because he obviously has talent, and he appeared in a few films that should’ve given him visibility enough to make that leap. Office Space, One Hour Photo, A Simple Plan, heck he was even funny in the Brady Bunch Movie! Sorry, you got me started, ha ha. You bring up an interesting point about Williams’ more recent career, though, I thought he was in more of a slump than he actually is. His films have mostly… Read more »

Jake
Jake
10 years ago

For the record, I’m still a Williams fan. I’ve often wondered how he would’ve played Clouseau in the recent Pink Panther films. Nothing against Steve Martin, but he just didn’t compare with Sellers in that role, but I can’t help but wonder if Williams would’ve fared better.

daffystardust
Editor
10 years ago
Reply to  Jake

I really doubt anyone will ever stack up to Sellers in that role. He is Clouseau. Other actors just play at being Clouseau.

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