Actor and Comedian Robin Williams has passed away

[Flower]

Originally Posted by JagdPanther

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDD MMMMMMMMMMMMORNING VIETNAM!

Man... I wasn't a huge Williams fan, but he did have talent.

I hear that a lot of comedians have very low self-esteem and use comedy to protect themselves. Maybe this played into it with him?

I knew someone who knew Robin Williams in the years before he hit it big with Mork and Mindy (actually in the 60's in the Haight-Ashbury district in SF) and she said that even back then he struggled with despair and depression and further that he was not out of the ordinary in this regard amongst the comedians she knew and met.

May he rest in peace....

[Solace]

Thank you Robin, for making me laugh even when I didn't want to.

she said that even back then he struggled with despair and depression and further that he was not out of the ordinary in this regard amongst the comedians she knew and met.

Unfortunately, talented minds tend to be burdened with troublesome thoughts. That's both the blessing and the curse of the thinker.

[Asuras]

Well shit. I literally just walked past his star on the Walk of Fame about an hour before hearing this. We'll miss you Robin.

[Guardian Enzo]

Robin was a lifetime sufferer of depression, as well as a recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict. He was in rehab as recently as this summer. It's terrible, but in a sense, it's not a shock.

I couldn't help but be put in mind of Watamote when I heard this news, because it's one of an extremely rare (and I mean probably low single digits) breed of anime that really deals with depression in a thoughtful, compassionate but ruthless and non-gimmicky way.

Here's the great actor/comic/writer Stephen Fry - who's bipolar and has twice attempted suicide - on the subject. I especially love the section that begins at 3:25.

https://t.co/Iqqkbp8JCc

[serenade_beta]

When I heard first the news, I was at first like, "I've seen this guy before..." and considering the channel suddenly stopped their broadcast for the show I was watching, I figured it was someone important.
Then after a while, after I checked, I realized it was the guy who was in Hook and Jumanji and then I was all
Orz

[sky black swordman]

Death by suicide? Why Robin?

Growing up as child I watched many movies starring Robin Williams some of which were my favorites at the time.

This is terrible news to hear. The world has lost a great actor and great comedian. RIP Robin Williams.

[Kismet-chan]

Robin Williams was a very prominent actor in my childhood. I've seen so, so many things with him in it. Even some of his worst works still retained a bit of his charm. Few people can make viewers cry just as easily as they can make them laugh (intentionally, that is ). The fields of both cinema and comedy have lost a great one. Even if I didn't know him personally, it still hurts.

Thanks for all the laughs, Robin. Y'did good.

[hawkeyesvn]

Really sad to know that this news is real. I heard it this morning but still thought it's just another sick joke, I never could have thought that he would commit suicide. I've been his fan since the first time watching Bicentenial man and Jumanji. RIP, I will never forget your role as Andrew.

[DarkJak2050]

Even though I know him as his role as Genie from Aladdin...

This is from the film Dead Poets Society

Farewell, my Captain...

1951-2014

[Magin]

I've expressed it on Facebook, but the short version is that unlike most other celebrity deaths, this one actually meant something to me and caused me to cry. Aladdin, Jack, Jumanji, Flubber... and those are the just the ones off the top of my head. I didn't realize that he was struggling from depression... as someone on Reddit put it, the one thing that Robin Williams didn't have, was a Robin Williams for himself.

And as another celebrity put on twitter, from Aladdin: "You're free, Genie"

[Chaos2Frozen]

I remembered Sumeragi mentioning this to me a while back...

Divorce, Money Problems Fueled Robin Williams's Return to TV

[kusabireika]

I will miss him he is my fav comedian

No matter where you are thx for giving us the laughers

Ty for everything we will miss you

[milan kyuubi]

This is a very sad news. The last thing I watched was The Crazy Ones he did together with SMG. It's horrible that the man who brought so much happiness to people, and put smiles on their faces, was living with so much sadness.

SMG released a statement to People;

"My life is a better place because I knew Robin Williams," Gellar said. "To my children he was Uncle Robin, to everyone he worked with, he was the best boss anyone had ever known, and to me he was not just an inspiration but he was the Father I had always dreamed of having. There are not enough adjectives to describe the light he was, to anyone that ever had the pleasure to meet him. I will miss him everyday, but I know the memory of him will live on. And to his family, I thank them for letting us know him and seeing the joy they brought him. Us crazy ones love you."

Condolences to his family! And may he finally finds peace!

RIP

[SaintessHeart]

A clown wears a smile hide his unhappiness, but continues to entertain as he believes he should not share his burden of sadness.

Robin Williams: the sadness of a clown that couldn’t be fixed

The sadness of the clown is an old showbusiness irony. The death of the clown is even sadder. But Robin Williams was no ordinary clown, he was a clown in the round, a master of the one-liner, of verbal riff, mimicry, disguise, facial distortion, fury and hilarity. He made them laugh and he made them cry. He had the gift of enhancing the lives of others, yet he could not handle one person’s life, his own. Only last month Williams was admitted back into a rehab centre in Minnesota.

Williams’ presumed suicide is receiving the same scrutiny as the recent deaths of other celebrity addicts such as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Peaches Geldof. Addictive substances appeared to be the way in which these well-known people coped with the pressure of life. In that, they are no different from thousands of non-celebrities subject to even greater pressure. Yet it seems inexplicable that their addiction should be immune to personal success, the care of a loving family and all the therapies money could buy.

Physical illness is something the medical profession understands. It knows what to do when the human body malfunctions and what not to do. Mental illness, if illness is the right word, seems lost in some dark age. Otherwise healthy people with every reason to be happy are found wrestling with private demons. Therapists wander the scene like surgeons on a medieval battlefield, at a loss for what to do.

Williams appeared to have recovered from cocaine addiction but not from alcohol. He had been in and out of rehabilitation. In a remarkably frank interview in the Guardian four years ago, he was eager to discuss his problems lucidly. He was a regular member of probably the most successful therapy in existence, Alcoholics Anonymous, with its emphasis on non-judgmental group support. There was no help that Williams and others like him could not and did not receive. It failed.

All illness is a great leveller, but none levels like mental illness. It remains the poor relation of medicine. Research is paltry. Therapies are halfhearted. Drugs are primitive. But addictive and depressive illness seems to probe deep into the relations between individuals and those around them. It is the crack in the window that can seem beyond mending. The sadness of the clown goes beyond irony. It is one of the great mysteries of life.

[ganbaru]

Robin Williams and Why Funny People Kill Themselves
http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/r...ll-themselves/

[JokerD]

8 fascinating facts you didn't know about Robin Williams

[MCAL]

I heard this on the news, did a double take and had to check on the internet just to make sure it was true.

Sad news indeed. An Anime fan, a Zelda fan, a great comedian and a great actor. How could I not like him?

Originally Posted by JokerD

8 fascinating facts you didn't know about Robin Williams

Interesting read. My favorite has to be the Schindler's List one. And the one I already knew (I always thought it was quite obvious) was the Aladdin one.

[Subpyro]

There were quite a few speculations made whether Robin has indeed committed suicide or not, but asphyxiation has been proven to be the cause. The more the investigators dug in, however, the more evident it supposedly became that he has indeed committed suicide. According to his publicist, he suffered from depression, which might have just been the cause for this unfortunate path to be taken. Regardless, a great man has passed on, and he shall not be forgotten. Rest in peace.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

A clown wears a smile hide his unhappiness, but continues to entertain as he believes he should not share his burden of sadness.

Robin Williams: the sadness of a clown that couldn’t be fixed

First time, it's a tragedy. Second time it's just a farce. A cynic realizes that early and finds that the human condition has so many things to make fun of, and maybe that manages to cheer others up by lightening it up as a joke. I mean if so many things are out of one's control, it's better to not just take everything so dead seriously. If you can make you and yourself just forget how bad things are for a second, then you've created something of use. Until it's too much to joke about. I think this is one of those situations.

There is no doubt that the state of many a society's approach towards mental illness has claimed so many lives. Truth is that almost nobody cares. Many profess to care but they only cause more trouble. How many times have people just said to "get over it" or "man up". Now certainly these things have relevance in affluent society where entitlement is all over the place but when something is wrong with the person's mind, it's no less asinine then telling someone with cancer to get over it. And indeed, I often do find people's reactions to certain depressed characters in fiction to be pretty damned heartless because I know they'll be saying the same kind of self righteous shit with useless and generic "one size fits all" solutions to real people. Because they can't comprehend it all. A bit fortunate for them I might say, if ignorant.

All in all, all of this, just convinces the mentally ill that they are less than human and their fault they're like this. Society tells the same of victims of abuse and sexual assault the same, even if not directly said. Maybe people have been slightly more discreet over the past few decades, but the shit is the same.

I would think a mind that's ready to self-terminate being any extreme circumstances (to avoid a gruesome death, a terrible disease, or a situation where one's life isn't worth living anymore) would already have been one that has problems. Let's think about it for a second. No matter who you are, there's gotta be a few people that know and care for you, and no doubt for Robin Williams here there was many more. Yet all he has done and all of that that give concrete value to his being to him as a person-- was not enough to deter the mind from making such a decision. I hope this shows how overriding this impulse is, when someone's is in a suicidal state.

But a lot of people have to live with this alone, in fear of being thrown in the looney bin which won't cure them (just because you have some problems does not mean you can't make any decision for yourself, but tell that to the authorities) , and to keep a secret from people who don't comprehend even if they don't mean well. Until they kill themselves or do something rash, it just feels all of a sudden. But it's never all of a sudden. I guess the edge between genius and insanity is really that small.

Anyhow, I'm glad this thread has been respectful and free of judgemental nonsense. It does make me glad to be a part of this community. My eyes would water had they not dried a few decades ago.

Bye. Mr. Williams. Your movies were enjoyable and those will last for a long time.

[milan kyuubi]

It's official! He did commit suicide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_W...ness_and_death

The Marin County Sheriff's department reported there were cuts along Williams' left wrist, and that a pocket knife was found close to his body. The Sheriff's department confirmed on August 12, 2014 that Williams was found with a belt around his neck and that preliminary results of forensic examination supported his death to be a result of asphyxia by hanging.