Born: Robin McLaurin Williams
Date of Birth: July 21, 1951
Date of Death:  August 11, 2014
Cause of Death: Suicide
Spouses: Valarie Velardi (1978-1988) /Marsha Garces (1981-2010) /Susan Schneider (2011-2014, his death)
Quote: “I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up all alone, it’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel all alone.”

Robin McLaurin Williams was an extremely talented stand up comedian and actor. He was born on July 21, 1951 in Chicago. His father was an executive for Ford Motor Company, and his mother was a former model. Williams began to develop his humor at a young age. In elementary school, he was a quiet and timid kid. Williams would mimic voices and accents of people to amuse himself. He took drama in high school and began to break out of his shell. Williams’ friends recalled him as being funny. In fact, Williams was voted “Least Likely to Succeed” and “Class Clown” in high school.

Later on, he obtained a full scholarship to the Juilliard School, and was only one of a few students nationwide to achieve this rarity. This time at Juilliard was the foundation that provided him with countless opportunities in his life. Robin Williams' career was a very successful one, and made many people laugh. On Mork and Mindy, he went off script for many of his lines. Williams ad libbed his lines, and the producers began to leave parts of his scripts open for him to do that. For that very reason, Robin Williams was known to be the master of improv.  Williams accumulated numerous accomplishments and awards over the years for his comical shows and movies. Williams was voted “Funniest Man Alive” by Entertainment Weekly in 1997. Williams also won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Good Will Hunting. He won three Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actor Guild Awards.

 
Robin Williams faced challenges in his life that were away from the movie set. In the 1980’s he had a drug and alcohol addiction problem. It became a problem for him periodically in his life, and he went to rehab a few times. Sadly, on August 11, 2014 Williams committed suicide in his home. He suffered from paranoia, and this is believed to be a contributing factor to his death. In addition, it was discovered that he had Lewy Body dementia. Robin Williams was known to make people laugh, and his career left an irreplaceable mark on comedy.