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"Robin McLaurim Williams" (born July 21, 1951)The print biographies "The Life and Humor of Robin Williams: A Biography" and "Robin Williams: A Biography" give his birth year as 1952. "The Robin Williams Scrapbook" also gives a birth year as 1952, as does "Encyclopedia Britannica". However, Williams publicly celebrated his 50th birthday in the summer of 2001 and was often heard to say that he would turn 56 in July 2007; if this is true, that means he was born in 1951. This is supported by IMDB and his official fansite. is an Academy Award-winning American actor and comedian who has done television, stage, and film work.

Biography

Early life and education

Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Laura McLaurin (née Smith; 1922 - 2001), was a former model from Jackson, Mississippi. His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (September 10 1906 - October 18, 1987) was a senior executive at Ford in charge of the Midwest area. Williams was raised in the Episcopal church (although his mother practiced Christian Science)http://www.adherents.com/people/pw/Robin_Williams.htmlhttp://www.canmag.com/nw/8218-license-to-wed-robin-williams and grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Marin County, California. He has two half-siblings: McLaurin, on his mother's side, and the late Todd (deceased 8/14/07) on his father's side. While in California, Williams attended Redwood High School in Larkspur and grew up in the Marin County suburb of Tiburon. In Michigan, he attended Detroit Country Day School, an exclusive college-preparatory school which boasts other famous alumni, including Steve Ballmer from Microsoft and Courtney Vance from "Law and Order: Criminal Intent". In an interview with Michael Parkinson, Williams stated that when he saw "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" he was immediately inspired to become an actor.

Williams has described himself as a quiet child whose first imitation was of his grandmother to his mom. He did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his high school drama department. (NPR.org) In high school, he won an award for 'Most Likely To Not Succeed'.mentioned on the 17 November 2006 "The View" interview

Every year, two thousand students audition for twenty places in the freshman class at Juilliard. Only two or three are accepted into the Advanced Program. Williams and Christopher Reeve were the only students accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program in 1973. Reeve and Williams had several classes together in which they were the only two students. In their dialects class, Williams had no trouble mastering all dialects naturally, whereas Reeve was more meticulous about it. Williams' manic comedy did not impress all of his teachers, but his dramatic performances impressed everyone. Williams and Reeve developed a close friendship, and they remained good friends for the remainder of Reeve's life. Williams visited Reeve after the horseback riding accident that paralyzed him from the neck down and cheered him up by arriving as an eccentric Russian doctor (similar to his role in "Nine Months"). Williams claimed that he was there to perform a colonoscopy. Reeve stated that he laughed for the first time since the accident and knew that life was going to be okay.Reeve, Christopher. "Still Me", Random House, 1998. ISBN 0-679-45235-4 pp 167-172

Early stand-up/TV career

Williams first achieved notice for his stand-up routines, performing for tips, and working clubs like The Purple Onion in San Francisco. After appearing in the cast of the short-lived "The Richard Pryor Show" on NBC, he was cast by Garry Marshall as the alien Mork in a guest role in the TV series "Happy Days".

As Mork, Williams improvised much of his dialogue and devised plenty of rapid-fire verbal and physical comedy, speaking in a high, nasal voice. Mork's appearance was so popular with viewers that it led to a spin-off hit television sitcom, "Mork and Mindy", which ran from 1978 to 1982. Williams became an overnight sensation, and Mork was featured on posters, coloring books, lunchboxes, and other merchandise. His nonsensical catch phrases, including the greeting 'Nanu, Nanu!' and the expletive 'Shazbot!', were widely known.

Starting in the late '70s and throughout the '80s, Williams began to reach a wider audience with his standup comedy, including three HBO comedy specials, "Off The Wall" (1978), "An Evening with Robin Williams" (1982) and "Robin Williams: Live at the Met" (1986). His standup work has been a consistent thread through his career, as is seen by the success of his one-man show (and subsequent DVD) "Robin Williams Live on Broadway" (2002). He was voted 13th on Comedy Central's list '100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time'. (100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time - AmIAnnoying.com)

After some encouragement from his friend Whoopi Goldberg, he was set to make a guest appearance in the 1991 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode, 'A Matter of Time', but he had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict; Matt Frewer took his place as a time-traveling con man, Professor Berlingoff Rasmussen.

Williams also appeared on an episode of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (Season 3, Episode 9: November 16 2000). During a game of 'Scenes from a Hat,' the scene 'What Robin Williams is thinking right now' was drawn, and Williams stated 'I have a career. What the hell am I doing?'

Cinema fame

The majority of Williams' acting career has been in film, although he has given some memorable performances on stage as well (notably as Estragon in a production of "Waiting for Godot"). His first starring roles, "Popeye" (1980) and "The World According to Garp" (1982), were both considered flops, but his performance in "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1987) got Williams nominated for an Academy Award and established a screen identity. Many of his roles have been comedies tinged with pathos, for example, "The Birdcage" and "Mrs. Doubtfire".His role as the Genie in the animated film "Aladdin" was instrumental in establishing the importance of star power in voice actor casting. Later, Williams once again used his voice talents in "A.I", the 2005 animated feature "Robots", the 2006 Academy Award winning "Happy Feet", and an uncredited vocal performance in 2006's "Everyone's Hero". Furthermore, he was the voice of The Timekeeper, a former attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort about a time-traveling robot who encounters Jules Verne and brings him to the future.Williams has also starred in dramatic films, earning himself two subsequent Academy Award nominations: first for playing an unorthodox and inspiring English teacher in "Dead Poets Society" (1989), and later for playing a troubled homeless man in "The Fisher King" (1991); that same year, he played an adult Peter Pan in the movie "Hook". Other acclaimed dramatic films include "Awakenings" (1990), "What Dreams May Come" (1998), and "Jakob the Liar" (1999).In 1997, he won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his role as a psychologist in "Good Will Hunting". However, by the early 2000s, he was thought by some to be typecast in films such as "Patch Adams" (1998) and "Bicentennial Man" (1999) that critics complained were excessively maudlin. This apparently prompted Williams to take radically unconventional roles, beginning with a role as a lowlife kiddie show host in the dark comedy "Death to Smoochy", followed by "One Hour Photo" in a watershed performance as an obsessed film developer, "Insomnia" as a sociopathic writer, and "The Final Cut", which is more in tune with Williams as a protagonist. In 2006 Williams starred in "The Night Listener", a thriller about a radio show host who realizes he's developed a friendship with a child who may or may not exist.He is known for his wild improvisational skills and impersonations. His performances frequently involve impromptu humor designed and delivered in rapid-fire succession while on stage. According to the "Aladdin" DVD commentary, most of his dialogue as the Genie was improvised. He is a talented mimic and can jump in and out of characters and various accents at an extremely fast pace. Williams states that he began doing impersonations as a child, mimicking his aunt's southern accent.In 2006, he starred in five movies including "Man of the Year" and was the Surprise Guest at the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. He appeared on an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" that aired on January 30 2006. Via a live video link to the De'Aeth family whose house and animal rescue shelter were being made over, he encouraged their son Cory, a budding comedian, and gave the family's shelter a recreational vehicle used in the movie "R.V.".At one point, he was in the running to play the Riddler in "Batman Forever" until director Tim Burton dropped the project. Williams had earlier been a prime candidate to play the Joker in "Batman". He had expressed interest in assuming the role in the sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins". (Robin Williams, Joker?) "IGN.com". June 26 2006. Retrieved on October 24 2006.He was portrayed by Chris Diamantopoulos in the made-for-TV biopic "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy" (2005), documenting the actor's arrival in Hollywood as a struggling comedian and becoming an overnight star when he landed the role in "Mork & Mindy".On "Inside the Actor's Studio", Al Pacino said that Williams was his idol.===Personal life===His first marriage was to Valerie Velardi on June 4 1978, with whom he has one child, Zachary Pym (Zak) (born April 11, 1983). The marriage ended in 1988. On April 30 1989, he married Marsha Garces. They have two children, Zelda Rae (born July 31 1989) and Cody Alan (born November 25 1991). Williams currently resides in a large house in the upper-income Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Williams had a serious addiction to cocaine; he has since kicked the habit. One quote attributed to him: 'Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you are making too much money.' (Robin Williams At the Met 1988) Williams was a close friend and frequent partier alongside John Belushi. Williams says the death of his friend and the birth of his son prompted him to quit drugs: 'Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level. The grand jury helped too'. (NY Times) (Inside the Actors Studio, Episode 94, Season 7).On August 9 2006, Williams entered himself into a rehabilitation center for alcoholism. His publicist has confirmed, saying 'After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the well-being of his family. He asks that you respect his and his family's privacy during this time. He looks forward to returning to work this Fall to support his upcoming film releases.'On August 20, 2007, Williams' elder brother, Robert Todd Williams died of complications from heart surgery performed in July. Robin Williams gave a speech at his memorial service.===Other interests=== Williams is a self-confessed gamer known to enjoy online video games, recently playing "Warcraft 3", "Day of Defeat", "Half-Life", (Interview at Pro-HL.com) and the first-person shooter "Battlefield 2" as a sniper. (... more) On January 6 2006 he performed live at Consumer Electronics Show during Google's keynote. (Engadget.com) In the 2006 E3, on the invitation of Will Wright, he demonstrated the creature editor of "Spore" while simultaneously commenting on the creature's look: 'This will actually make a platypus look good.' (... more) He also complimented the game's versatility, comparing it to "Populous" and "Black & White".Williams is a fan of professional road cycling. During the Lance Armstrong years of domination in the Tour de France, Williams was a regular on the US Postal and Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team bus and hotels.Robin is a big fan of the popular anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion. The toy used in One Hour Photo belonged to him.===Charity work===Williams and his wife, Marsha, founded the Windfall Foundation, a philanthropic organization to raise money for many different charities. Williams devotes much of his energy doing work for charities, including the Comic Relief fund-raising efforts. He is also a cycling fan, known to own hundreds of bicycles and to attend the Tour de France. Through his interest in cycling, he has been a friend and supporter of Lance Armstrong and his foundation, performing at events for the foundation.Williams has performed in the USO for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq for three years. As recently as January 24-25 2007, he performed two live stand-up comedy shows in Boston, MA. Donations from the events were split between the USO Operation Care Package and the Greater Boston Food Bank. (... more) In 2006, he helped fund and also wrote the foreword to the book "Home Wasn't Built in a Day" with the nonprofit writing center 826 Valencia. The book was written by public school students from Galileo Academy of Science and Technology in San Francisco.Dec 1999 sang in French on the BBC-inspired music video of international celebrites doing a cover of the Rolling Stones 'It's Only Rock & Roll' for the charity Children's Promise.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/558252.stmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdZFHq0OLPI==Filmography====Discography==Williams sings a version of 'Come Together' with Bobby McFerrin on "In My Life", a Beatles tribute album produced by George Martin. He also sings 'A Mi Manera (My Way)', on the "Happy Feet" soundtrack. For the 1993 soundtrack of Mrs. Doubtfire, and the film, he sings a rendition of a fragment of Gioacchino Rossini's 'Largo al factotum' from "The Barber of Seville".Williams also appeared in the music video of McFerrin's hit song 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'.Dec 1999 sang in French on the charity celebrity (musicvideo) cover of the Rolling Stones 'It's Only Rock & Roll' (see Charity Work)*"Reality...What a Concept" (1979)*"Throbbing Python of Love" (1983)*"A Night at the Met" (1986)*"Pecos Bill" (1988)*"Live 2002" (2002)===DVDs and videos===*"An Evening with Robin Williams" (1982, VHS) *"Robin Williams: Live at the Met" (1986, VHS)*"Robin Williams: Live on Broadway" (2002)==Television guest appearances==*Robert Ellison: "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1994)*Thomas: "Friends" (1997)*George Martin: "In My Life" (1998) *Himself on the American version of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" (2002)*Himself: "That's F**king Historical" episode of "Mind of Mencia" (2006)*Himself on Real Time With Bill Maher (2006)*Himself on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 It Helps To Laugh (2006)*Himself on TV Land's Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg (2007)*Himself on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman (2007)==References==* ('Road Trip with Robin') * ('Robin Williams mimic ends 'fraud") (BBC News)* ('Robin Williams' impersonator stopped') (AskMen.com)* ( 'Robin Williams Enters Rehab') , August 9 2006 (Access Hollywood)*Lovece, Frank, "New York Newsday" (April 27 2006)==External links==****** * ('RWF') The Robin Williams Fansite* (Robin Williams' Stand Up Comedy Acts) a small video collection* (Robin Williams Interview) (License to Wed)* (Robin Williams interview for License to Wed at TheCinemaSource.com) * (Charlie Rose - A conversation with Robin Williams)

Credit

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Robin Williams.