--- title: Robin Williams Dead at 63: Richard Corliss' Obit description: The comic genius with an itch to play serious film roles — and with an Oscar to prove he could — is dead at 63 canonical: https://time.com/3102058/robin-williams-dead-remembrance-richard-corliss/ author: Richard Corliss article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-12T00:46:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:55.163Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Robin Williams Dead at 63: Richard Corliss' Obit og:description: The comic genius with an itch to play serious film roles — and with an Oscar to prove he could — is dead at 63 og:url: https://time.com/3102058/robin-williams-dead-remembrance-richard-corliss/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0ebc8beccf43a24/69869f231eebf7989c37233b/robin-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Robin Williams og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Robin Williams Dead at 63: Richard Corliss' Obit twitter:description: The comic genius with an itch to play serious film roles — and with an Oscar to prove he could — is dead at 63 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0ebc8beccf43a24/69869f231eebf7989c37233b/robin-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Robin Williams: The Comic Who Was Hamlet > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: 10 Questions for Robin Williams [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Robin Williams](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/e5SUiinR.m3u8) (5:56)  _Published 2011-04-14. The comedian and actor talks about playing a tiger in his first Broadway role, the war in Iraq and why it isn't always a good thing to be funny_ by [Richard Corliss](https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/) ## Richard Corliss Aug 12, 2014 12:46 AM UTC  Peter Hapak for TIME by [Richard Corliss](https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/) ## Richard Corliss Aug 12, 2014 12:46 AM UTC Who was Robin Williams? Or rather who _were_? He became an overnight TV sensation playing an amiable extraterrestrial on _Mork & Mindy_. In his first movie, _Popeye_, he starred as a comic-strip sailor. His chameleonic Genie in _Aladdin_ ransacked the attic of comic caricatures. At the top of his form, as a frequent guest on David Letterman’s show in the ’90s, he spoke in tongues: any language or accent, any human or mammal or alien, geysering nonstop shtick of the highest order, leaving viewers astonished, thrilled and wearied. The effort of juggling all those personalities — and pursuing parallel careers as a comic dervish and a serious, Oscar-winning actor — apparently left Williams exhausted as well. He died at his home in Tiburon, Calif., at 63, an apparent suicide. “Robin has been battling severe depression of late,” his publicist Mara Buxbaum said. “This is a tragic and sudden loss.” Short, chunky and hairy, driven by angels or demons, Williams followed his dramatic muse to the Juilliard School, where the dean, John Houseman, told him he was wasting his time there and should try stand-up. Playing one character at a time, for months on end, didn’t properly exploit Williams’ unique gift of being everyone at once. His true model and mentor was not an Olivier or Brando but freeform comic Jonathan Winters, who also battled to call a truce with the manifold Genie geniuses in his head. In California, Williams joined _Happy Days_ as Mork from Ork and soon had his own high-rated show. Between seasons he did _Popeye_, and a series of epochal one-man concerts that crowded the stage with figments of his teeming brain. Why does a clown want to play Hamlet? Maybe because he thinks he _is_ that melancholy soul whom others find amusingly odd. Williams dropped Mork’s na-nu na-nu and entered dramatic film with the lead in _The World According to Garp._ Eventually he earned three Best Actor Oscar nominations — as the DJ in _Good Morning, Vietnam_, the sainted teacher in _Dead Poets Society_ and another DJ, nearly driven to suicide, in _The Fisher King_ — plus a win for Supporting Actor as Matt Damon’s therapist in _Good Will Hunting_. His serious-sentimental turns could be engaging (_What Dreams May Come_) or egregious (_Patch Adams_), but his comedy roles often located the ache in a farceur’s panache: the “straight” gay mate of drag queen Nathan Lane in _The Birdcage_ and, in _Mrs. Doubtfire_, the exiled husband who becomes a nanny to be near his kids. Above all, Williams infused weird wonder in voice roles for animated features — not only _Aladdin_ but _Robots_ and _Happy Feet_. He was a cartoon, with all the characters, in a man’s body. He fell victim to cocaine abuse and alcohol addiction, conquering them and falling back. He could play anyone, but not just one: not “just” Robin Williams. All those voices in the head of this comic Hamlet must have told him it was time to be quiet. The rest is silence. ## Transcript >> I'm not gonna lie. When I get hungry, I get stupid. Twelve years back, I screwed up, okay? I followed the scent. I took a bite and then, fhwipp-- >> A gold [ unk ] gun. >> a tranquilizer dart comes from out of nowhere, and I wake up in Baghdad. >> Sweet ass. >> So, that was depressing. >> Hi. I'm Belinda Luscombe. This is TIME Magazine's 10 Questions. Today, we are asking our questions of Robin Williams. Hello, Mr. Williams. >> Welcome, Ms. Luscombe. >> So, in your new play, the Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, you're playing the tiger. >> Yes. >> How does one prepare to play a tiger? Prowling, little-- >> A little pacing, biting whenever possible. I'm basically playing the soul of a tiger, so I don't have to do a lot of tiger behavior except for that, but it's pretty much two- legged tiger 'cause I'm in a cage, and beginning to treat it more like jail. But it's, you know, the essence of a tiger with not a lot of-- no costume except for just beaten up clothing, you know. >> This is your Broadway debut in a serious Broadway play. >> Yeah. When I did Godot, it was under Broadway. >> That's right. >> That's about 20 years ago, actually. So, yeah, this is Broadway debut. >> And you left Juilliard in, what? 1975? >> Five, yeah. >> Yeah. So-- >> Exactly. I left school, I fell in love, and went back to live in San Francisco. >> This is actually a serious play. >> Uh- huh, very. >> And does your appearance in the play reflect any personal feelings you have about the Iraq war? >> You know, I've been there five times, Afghanistan six. My feelings are more about-- I mean, I'm still wondering, " Where are the weapons of mass destruction ." Even though they had Hussein, you had the guy himself, you think of anybody new. Saddam, what is it? I'm not telling. Too late, he's gone. How weird is that. Crazy. But my feelings about the war is just the idea of ghost especially in this war, is because I was just there recently, and you know, they're " winding down ." They're supposed to be out of there by Christmas next year. So, where do we come back from? What's the damage to the Iraqis? What's the damage to us? What do you leave for them when it just ends? You know, like he said, in the lines in the play about, " The Americans think when something dies, that's it, it's over ." But when you go to Middle East, you realize there's a real sense that things stay around. >> You did a stand- up tour in 2009 ,-- >> Right. >> Weapons of Self- destruction. >> Yes, yes. >> If I went to the right club on the right night, might I find you? Do you still have a-- >> I haven't been able to go out yet since I've started the play, but I think I'm gonna have to start to go out again 'cause it's about time, now, that I've the gig. >> Yeah. >> I can start to go out and, you know, do shows maybe on the weekends. And just I-- 'cause I've started, you know-- I'm starting to get the urge to go back in again. And it's important to go out and do it 'cause there's so much to talk about. The fact that Donald Trump wants to see Obama's birth certificate, it's kind of, " I wanna see his hairline first ." >> Absolutely. >> I think so. >> When did it stop? >> I believe the hair is actually him. I believe, at night, he walks into a small room, sits down and the hair goes, " Who should we marry next? We're going out! Put your name on that building !" >> Okay. Leading on from that question to that answer ,-- >> Leading onto that. >> Is being funny sometimes a hindrance to social interaction? >> Example, I was once walking in an airport, and a woman came up to me and said, " Be zany !" >> No. >> Big time. >> But what about with, say, family? Do you sometimes-- >> Oh, no. It's-- Years ago, my-- I was reading a story to my-- to my daughter. I was doing voices and everything and she turned to me and said, " Just read the story ." >> Ouch. >> Yeah. It was just-- >> Not. >> Yeah, it was just-- And just stay to the main points. >> Okay. No voices? >> No voices. Yeah, " Thanks dad ." >> How often does someone else make you laugh? >> Oh, big time. >> Is it kids? Or is it-- >> No. Kids do and comics, comedians that make me laugh, Chris Rock, Louis C. K ., Puddin Oswalt. I've now been hanging out with Mort Sahl and that's been a gift. I've been hanging out with him is two things. It's history, but it's also that he's amazingly funny and still has everything going and also in which which has been wonderful. >> So, you can-- when you get older as a comic, you stay funny, you can still-- what do you need to-- >> You try to stay funny as you get older as a comedian and then you get to this program, " Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Robin Williams. Thank you for coming to my show ." You try to stay funny, yeah. I mean, when you seem like that and [ unk ]. When you see these guys who are just still doing great, that's what keeps them alive. I mean, that's what keeps them going. >> Billy Crystal had said that stand- up is how comedians process things that are painful. >> Yeah. >> But does that mean we have to wish more painful things on you? Or-- >> You don't have to. I find them. I was coming in with-- you know, that concept of the Tourette's is the thing where people say kind of nasty things. Is there-- Is there another thing of like a positive Tourette's, like, " That dress is beautiful. Your legs are nice ?" So, everything is wonderful, like, " You really are lovely. Nice, nice eyes. Nice eyes !" Something like, " Your teeth are beautiful. Your teeth are beautiful, all of them ." >> Why do they have to get it the other way? >> Yeah. Oh, I think-- >> Do you think they did? >> But because-- it actually because it's the subconscious creeping out, but then you think, " Is there a nice side of your subconscious going, " I really like you. I just wanna pet you in a nice way ." >> You are sort of unique among comedians and I don't think you've actually written a book. >> No. I hope not to. >> You have not to? >> Especially biography. I mean, I have a lot of friends who are authors, who are great. I just don't have the discipline to do it. The learning is somewhat, but the discipline is to really sit down and write a book. Maybe, I've got to five years from now. I'm here with my new book, so that's the way you like it. But I don't think so. I think-- >> You know, you could just talk into a tape recorder and then someone will-- >> You're right. >> type it up. We do that here at TIME. >> Oh, then, I should do a book. >> I've got-- You've gone through all my questions. >> We did every question. 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