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Personal info | Biography | Trivia | Filmography | Pictures |
| Name | Robin McLaurim Williams | Date of birth | 21 July 1952 |
| Marital status | Married to Valerie Velardi on 4 June 1978, divorced in 1988 with 1 child Married to Marsha Garces Williams on 30 April 1989 with 2 children. |
Birthplace | Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Personal links |
Official tour site Official Comic Relief website Google search for Robin Williams |
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This dynamic, motor-mouthed performer, whose wicked, outrageous, free-associating humorleavened with deadly accurate impressions of incredible variety-made him a comic sensation in the 1970s.
Since then the former street performer, Juilliard acting student, and stand-up comic has worked hard to have it both ways: retaining his unique persona while growing and thriving as an actor.
And, in fact, he has succeeded, securing both critical adulation and audience loyalty in the process.
Williams gained a huge TV audience (and risked lifelong typecasting) playing the alien Mork in the 1978-82 sitcom "Mork and Mindy." An entrepreneurial producer put fleeting footage of Williams in his raunchy comedy-skit feature Till I Need Glasses? (1977).
But the performer's actual screen debut came when Robert Altman cast him as Popeye (1980) in an overproduced and largely unfunny live-action feature.
Williams took no punches for his energetic performance, however, and accepted an even greater challenge in The World According to Garp (1982), George Roy Hill's outstanding adaptation of the John Irving novel.
Although Williams' character was basically benign, he was decidedly not comic, and the tyro actor did an excellent job. Williams' gift for dialects was then put to good use in Paul Mazursky's Moscow on the Hudson (1984), in which he had to create a convincing Russian character to go along with the accent-and did.
Although Williams has appeared in his share of turkeys (1983's The Survivors 1986's Club Paradise 1990's Cadillac Man to name a few) he has never shied away from ambitious projects.
He played a difficult role beautifully in an independently produced film of Saul Bellow's novel Seize the Day (1986), and achieved a high level of success in roles as diverse as an irreverent Vietnam-stationed disc jockey (1987's Good Morning, Vietnam for which he was Oscar-nominated) and an unorthodox prep school instructor (1989's Dead Poets Society again Oscar-nominated).
Having established a strong bond with audiences, who respond to his teddy-bear warmth and infectious humor, Williams can shed his comic persona completely when he wants to, as in the moving Awakenings (1990, as a dedicated doctor who isolates himself from the world) or the emotional roller coaster of The Fisher King (1991, as a mad, homeless, medieval scholar, a performance that earned him an Oscar nomination).
He can disappear into a character, like the would-be jock in The Best of Times (1986) or the King of the Moon in Terry Gilliam's fanciful The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989).
And, as a bona fide star, he can have a lark, as he did playing supporting roles in Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again and-as a mime teacher-in Shakes the Clown (both 1991).
Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991) offered the promising idea of casting Williams as a grownup Peter Pan who's forgotten who he is, but the result was disappointing.
Toys (1992) was an embarrassing misfire for Good Morning, Vietnam director Barry Levinson. But Williams was heard at his best in a pair of animated features, 'The Last Rainforest' (1992), as the comic relief character Batty) and Disney's megahit Aladdin (also 1992), as the quicksilver Genie, a part that allowed and even encouraged him to ad-lib to his heart's content.
The live-action comedy hit Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), which Williams produced with his wife, also enabled director Chris Columbus to take advantage of his star's gift for on-the-spot comic invention, as he played a divorced dad who disguises himself as an English nanny in order to see his kids.
Williams has remained a constant presence on television, doing talk shows, guest appearances (he won a pair of Emmys for late 1980s variety specials), and cohosting the annual "Comic Relief" benefit for the homeless. Recent credits include Being Human (1994) and Nine Months (1995).
Copyright © 1994 Leonard Maltin
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His trademark is a wild improvised stream-of-consciousness comedy dialogue where he will do cultural references, impersionations and one liners with rapid switching.
After having won the academy award for Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams sent Peer Augustinski (who is his standard German dubbing voice) a little Oscar replica with a note: "Thank you for making me famous in Germany".
When he auditioned for the role of Mork from Ork, he met Gary Marshall who told him to sit down. Robin immediately sat on his head on the chair. Gary Marshall immediately chose him saying that he was the only alien who auditioned.
During the making of Mork and Mindy, Williams departed from the scripts and ad libbed so many times and so well, that the producers stop trying to make him stick to the script and deliberately left gaps in the later scripts leaving only "Mork can go off here" in those places so Robin could improvise.
Quotes:
"... And now that you have a child you have to clean up your act, 'cause you can't drink anymore. You can't come home drunk and go, 'Hey, here's a little switch: Daddy's gonna throw up on you!'"
"Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet."
"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."
"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time."
"Ballet: Men wearing pants so tight that you can tell what religion they are."
"You can start any Monty Python routine and people finish it for you. Everyone knows it like shorthand."
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| Year | Title | Character |
| 2003 | The 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards | Presenter: Cecil B. DeMille Award |
| 2002 | Conversations From the Edge with Carrie Fisher | Himself |
| 2002 | Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch | Himself |
| 2002 | Billy Connolly: A BAFTA Tribute | Himself |
| 2002 | The best of Bert Newton | Himself |
| 2002 | Robin Williams: Live on Broadway | Himself |
| 2002 | Insomnia | Walter Finch |
| 2002 | The first 13th Annual Fancy Anvil Awards Show Program Special Live In Stereo | Himself |
| 2002 | Death to Smoochy | 'Rainbow' Randolph Smiley |
| 2002 | One Hour Photo | Seymour Parrish |
| 2001 | America: A Tribute to Heroes | Himself |
| 2001 | Artificial Intelligence: AI | Dr. Know |
| 2001 | The Comedy Store: The E! True Hollywood Story | Himself |
| 2000 | Film-Fest DVD: Issue 3 - Toronto | Himself |
| 2000 | It's Only Rock 'n' Roll | Himself |
| 2000 | Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation | Himself |
| 2000 | AFI's 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies | Himself |
| 1999 | Lions and Monkeys and Pods... Oh My! The Special Effects of 'Jumanji' | Himself |
| 1999 | Bicentennial Man | Andrew Martin |
| 1999 | Jakob the Liar | Jakob Heym/Narrator |
| 1999 | Get Bruce | Himself |
| 1998 | 30 Years of Billy Connolly | Himself |
| 1998 | In My Life | Himself |
| 1998 | Patch Adams | Hunter 'Patch' Adams |
| 1998 | Junket Whore | Himself |
| 1998 | What Dreams May Come | Chris Nielsen |
| 1998 | Comic Relief VIII | Host |
| 1998 | Christopher Reeve: A Celebration of Hope | Emcee |
| 1997 | Great Minds Think for Themselves | The Genie |
| 1997 | Good Will Hunting | Sean Maguire |
| 1997 | Flubber | Professor Philip 'Phil' Brainard |
| 1997 | Deconstructing Harry | Mel |
| 1997 | Fathers' Day | Dale Putley |
| 1996 | Disney Sing-Along-Songs: Friend Like Me | Genie |
| 1996 | Hamlet | Osric |
| 1996 | The Secret Agent | The Professor |
| 1996 | Aladdin and the King of Thieves | Blue Genie |
| 1996 | Jack | Jack Powell |
| 1996 | Nichols and May: Take Two | Himself |
| 1996 | The Birdcage | Armand Goldman |
| 1995 | Jumanji | Alan Parrish |
| 1995 | Aladdin on Ice | Genie |
| 1995 | Comic Relief VII | Host |
| 1995 | To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar | John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt |
| 1995 | 20 Years of Comedy on HBO | Himself |
| 1995 | Nine Months | Dr. Kosevich |
| 1995 | What Makes You Laugh? | Himself |
| 1994 | Disney Sing-Along-Songs: The Lion King Circle of Life | Genie |
| 1994 | In Search of Dr. Seuss | The Father |
| 1994 | Carol Burnett: The Special Years | Himself |
| 1994 | But... Seriously | Himself |
| 1994 | Comic Relief VI | Host |
| 1993 | Being Human | Hector |
| 1993 | In the Wild with Robin Williams | Himself |
| 1993 | Mrs. Doubtfire | Daniel Hillard/Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire |
| 1993 | Apollo Theatre Hall of Fame | Himself |
| 1993 | A Tribute to Sam Kinison | Himself |
| 1992 | Comic Relief V | Himself |
| 1992 | I'm From Hollywood | Himself |
| 1992 | A Spinal Tap Reunion: The 25th Anniversary London Sell-Out | Himself |
| 1992 | Toys | Leslie Zevo |
| 1992 | Aladdin | The Blue Genie of the Lamp |
| 1992 | From Time to Time | Timekeeper |
| 1992 | FernGully: The Last Rainforest | Batty Koda |
| 1992 | Shakes the Clown | Mime Jerry |
| 1991 | Comic Relief IV | Himself |
| 1991 | Rabbit Ears: The Fool and the Flying Ship | Narrator |
| 1991 | A Wish for Wings That Work | The Kiwi |
| 1991 | Hook | Peter Banning/Peter Pan |
| 1991 | Walt Disney World's 20th Anniversary Celebration | Himself |
| 1991 | 60 Minutes: The Entertainers | Himself |
| 1991 | Johnny Carson's 29th Anniversary | Himself |
| 1991 | The Fisher King | Henry Sagan, 'Parry' |
| 1991 | Dead Again | Doctor Cozy Carlisle |
| 1990 | Earth Day Special | Himself |
| 1990 | Awakenings | Dr. Malcolm Sayer |
| 1990 | Cadillac Man | Joey O'Brien |
| 1989 | Comic Relief III | Himself |
| 1989 | Dead Poets Society | John Keating |
| 1988 | An All-Star Toast to the Improv | Himself |
| 1988 | Portrait of a White Marriage | Air Conditioning Salesman |
| 1988 | Young Comedians All-Star Reunion | Himself |
| 1988 | The Adventures of Baron Munchausen | King of the moon |
| 1987 | Cold Steel | Thanks |
| 1987 | Comic Relief '87 | Himself |
| 1987 | Good Morning, Vietnam | Adrian Cronauer |
| 1987 | Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam | Baby-san |
| 1986 | Comic Relief | Himself |
| 1986 | An Evening at the Met | Himself |
| 1986 | Robin Williams Live | Himself |
| 1986 | Robin Williams: Live at the Met | Himself |
| 1986 | Saturday Night Live - Robin Williams | Himself |
| 1986 | Seize the Day | Tommy Wilhelm |
| 1986 | Club Paradise | Jack Moniker |
| 1986 | The Best of Times | Jack Dundee |
| 1985 | The Richard Lewis 'I'm in Pain' Concert | Witness |
| 1984 | The Great Standups | Himself |
| 1984 | Moscow on the Hudson | Vladimir Ivanoff |
| 1983 | The Survivors | Donald Quinelle |
| 1982 | An Evening with Robin Williams | Himself |
| 1982 | The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour | Mork |
| 1982 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Frog Prince |
| 1982 | The World According to Garp | T. S. Garp |
| 1980 | Popeye | Popeye |
| 1979 | Andy Kaufman Plays Carnegie Hall | Andy's Grandmother |
| 1979 | Can I Do It 'Till I Need Glasses? | Himself |
| 1978 | Mork & Mindy | Mork (from Ork) |
| 1977 | Laugh-In | |
| 1977 | The Richard Pryor Show | Himself |
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