The star of Good Will Hunting, Good Morning Vietnam and Mrs Doubtfire, who battled depression and an addiction to drugs and alcohol for decades, was found unconscious in his mansion just outside San Francisco at around noon yesterday (3pm EST). Marin County Sheriff’s Office believe Williams asphyxiated himself and an autopsy will be carried out later today. It is not known if he left a suicide note. His distraught wife Susan Schneider, together left, revealed her husband had died and said: ‘This morning I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one if its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken’. Friends and colleagues like Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin, Danny DeVito, Ellen DeGeneres and Ben Stiller all took to social media to express their grief while theaters and comedy clubs all over America carried their own tributes (bottom right). Last month the married father of three was back in rehab and his publicist said he had been ‘battling severe depression of late’. He was last seen in public on his birthday – July21 – when he posted a photograph and his Night at the Museum co-star, Crystal the monkey, center.
‘Make God Laugh’: Last picture of Robin Williams who had not been seen in public for three weeks after rehab stint for ‘severe depression’ as police radio traffic reveals suspected suicide by hanging
- The legendary comic actor, 63, was found dead at his home in Tiburon, California
- Coroner said the cause of death is believed to be suicide due to asphyxia
- Police radio traffic revealed he died from ‘suspected suicide by hanging’
- His third wife Susan Schneider said: ‘I lost my husband and my best friend, the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings’
- President Obama said: ‘He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most’
- Williams had battled depression and addiction to drugs and alcohol for years
- He won an Oscar for the 1997 film Good Will Hunting
Oscar winning actor and comedian Robin Williams has been found dead at his home in California after apparently killing himself at the age of 63.
The star of Good Will Hunting, Good Morning Vietnam and Mrs Doubtfire, who battled depression and an addiction to cocaine and alcohol for decades, was found ‘unconscious and not breathing’ in his mansion just outside San Francisco at around noon yesterday. Marin County Sheriff’s Office said it believed Williams’ death was a suicide due to asphyxia – reportedly by hanging – and an autopsy with toxicology tests will be carried out later today. Williams had not been seen in public since his birthday three weeks ago and it is not known if he left a suicide note. Last month the married father of three was back in rehab ‘fine-tuning’ his sobriety in a year where he had been working on six movies and a TV series, and his publicist said he had been ‘battling severe depression of late’. His distraught wife Susan Schneider revealed her husband had died in a statement last night and said: ‘This morning I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one if its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken’.
Tragic passing: American actor and comedian Robin Williams poses for a photograph in Sydney in 2011 while he was promoting his voice over work in Happy Feet 2
On July 21, in what could be the last picture of the comedy giant, Robin Williams posted this photograph to Instagram on his birthday of himself and his Night at the Museum co-star, Crystal the monkey, who will also be familiar to viewers of the Hangover trilogy
‘Utterly heartbroken’: Robin Williams’ third wife Susan Schneider, pictured together, revealed her husband’s death and said: ‘This morning I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one if its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken’
Dearest wish: A shot of the marquee at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood paying tribute to the late Robin Williams on August 11, 2014 in Los Angeles, California
Poignant: Flowers, messages and other tributes are scattered across the comedian’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as fans come to terms with his death
Friends and colleagues such as Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin, Danny DeVito and Ben Stiller all took to social media to express their grief and offer condolences to Williams’ third wife and three children, Zachary Pym, 31, Zelda Rae, 25 and Alan, 22. President Obama issued a touching tribute to the actor and comedian, and said: ‘Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. ‘He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most – from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets. The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin’s family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams.’
The Los Angeles’ Laugh Factory, where he inspired countless other comedians, issued their own tribute to the Oscar winning actor and entertainer by changing their banner to read ‘Robin Williams Rest in Peace. Make God Laugh.’ Emergency crews were called to the legendary comic’s house in Marin County, just north of San Francisco at approximately noon on Monday and his third wife, Susan Schneider issued a statement confirming the 63-year-old’s death. Police radio traffic from the initial 911 call reported the death as an ‘apparent suicide by hanging,’ CBS News reports. Williams, who won an Academy Award for his supporting role as a fatherly therapist in the 1997 drama Good Will Hunting, had been suffering from severe depression recently and had sought treatment for his ongoing alcoholism. He was last seen alive on Sunday evening. His wife Susan said: ‘As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin’s death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions,’ said Schneider. The star’s 25-year-old daughter Zelda Williams tweeted a poignant quote shortly after her about her loss. She posted an exerpt from Antoine De Saint-Exupery’s novella The Little Prince which read: ‘You – you alone will have the stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night… You – only you will have stars that can laugh.’ She finished the post with the words: ‘I love you. I miss you. I’ll try to keep looking up, Z.’ Williams’ last tweet and Instagram post came on July 31, – 11 days before his apparent suicide – in which he wished Zelda a happy 25th birthday, posting a picture of himself with her as a child. ‘Quarter of a century old today but always my baby girl,’ he wrote. It is understood Williams was unconscious and not breathing when he was discovered. The coroner’s office said it appears to be suicide but they are still investigating what happened. A statement by the Marin County Sheriff’s Department in California said: ‘On August 11, 2014, at approximately 11:55 am, Marin County Communications received a 9-1-1 telephone call reporting a male adult had been located unconscious and not breathing inside his residence in unincorporated Tiburon, California. The male subject, pronounced deceased at 12:02 pm has been identified as Robin McLaurin Williams.’ ‘The Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Tiburon Fire Department and Southern Marin Fire Protection District were dispatched to the incident with emergency personnel arriving on scene at 12pm. Outside the family home in a neighbourhood of low-slung houses with water views, people left flowers and talked about the man who rode his bike around and had a smile and a wave for children on the street. ‘It wasn’t like having a celebrity,’ said Sonja Conti who said the actor would often ask about her dog and nicknamed him ‘Dude.’ ‘He was just a normal, nice guy. People left him alone.’ Another neighbour, Kelly Cook, 50, described Williams as a ‘private man’ who would often be seen cycling around the area. She said her children would call him ‘the funny man’ and he would often speak to them when he was out walking his pug called Lenny.
‘UTTERLY HEARTBROKEN’: ROBIN WILLIAMS’ WIFE PAYS TOUCHING TRIBUTE TO ‘MY HUSBAND AND BEST FRIEND’
Robin Williams’ wife revealed that he had died and released a moving statement. Susan Schneider said: ‘This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one if its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken,’ she began. ‘On behalf of Robin’s family, we are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope that the focus will not be on Robin’s death but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions.’ Shortly afterwards his daughter Zelda, 25, tweeted an excerpt from Antoine De Saint-Exupery’s novella The Little Prince which read: ‘You – you alone will have the stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night… You – only you will have stars that can laugh.’
Family: Actor Robin Williams and with then wife Marsha Garces Williams, sons Cody, Zachary with girlfriend Alex, daughter Zelda arrive at the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards in 2005
Poignant tweet: Zelda Williams posted an Antoine De Saint-Exupery quote from The Little Prince on Monday following her father Robin Williams’s death
Final post: Williams celebrated his daughter Zelda Rae’s 25th birthday on July 31, posting a touching black and white photo of himself cradling his baby girl
One of his last photographs: This photograph of Robin Williams was taken in July at a local Dairy Queen in Minnesota during his stay at a rehabilitation facility which he checked himself into for treatment for alcohol addiction
Known as ‘the funniest man alive’, Williams fought drug and alcohol problems when he became the star of Mork & Mindy, on his path to stardom. He had stayed mainly sober for 20 years but in July he went into rehab to use the 12-step program he championed, this time during a brief stay at a Minnesota facility. Publicist Mara Buxbaum said at the time that Williams had not fallen off the wagon, but was ‘taking the opportunity to fine-tune and focus on his continued commitment, of which he remains extremely proud.’ This year he has six movies either out or due for release and had also been working on the TV series The Crazy Ones – but it was axed after one season. He admitted he returned to TV after nearly three decades because two divorces have left him short of cash. The comic’s breakups cost him £20million and he claims to need a ‘steady job’. He was also selling his £20million California ranch due to his sizeable alimony payments. The 62-year-old, said: ‘Divorce is expensive. I used to joke they were going to call it “all the money”, but they changed it to “alimony”. ‘It’s ripping your heart out through your wallet.’ His marriage to Valerie Velardi ended in 1988 after the pair had been together for 10 years. The actor then wed his son’s nanny Marsha Garces with whom he stayed for 19 years and had two children with. The couple divorced in 2008. Williams is now married to graphic designer, Susan Schneider. In the interview the actor also opens up about his long battle with alcohol and drugs. Williams said that he was confronted with two other choices apart from doing TV: go on the road doing stand-up or do small independent films for very low pay. He said: ‘The movies are good, but a lot of times they don’t even have distribution. There are bills to pay. My life has downsized, in a good way. I’m selling the ranch up in Napa. ‘I just can’t afford it anymore.’
Memorial: A boy leaves flowers at the home of Robin Williams a brilliant shapeshifter who could channel his frenetic energy into delightful comic characters like Mrs. Doubtfire or harness it into richly nuanced work like his Oscar-winning turn in Good Will Hunting,
Flowers for the ‘Funny Man’: Mikalya Cook, 12, of the neighborhood, prepares to place flowers at the front gate of US actor Robin Williams, where he was found dead in Tiburon, California on Monday
Last seen: The comedian was last seen in public in June at San Francisco Zoo where he fed a howler monkey that was named ‘Robin’ after him
Off stage and camera Williams had endured a struggle with personal demons that manifested themselves in well publicized drug and alcohol problems. Williams was a close friend of Blues Brothers and Saturday Night Live star John Belushi and was one of the last people to see the actor alive before his death by drugs overdose at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles in 1982. The star of Good Morning Vietnam said that experience forced him to evaluate his own wild lifestyle and led to him seeking help for his addictions to alcohol and cocaine. ‘Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level,’ he once said. Williams managed to maintain his sobriety for two decades but in 2006, relapsed and sought treatment. Williams described his family’s reaction to this relapse in a September 2013 Parade Magazine interview: ‘It was not an intervention so much as an ultimatum. Everyone kind of said, ‘You’ve got to do this.’ And I went, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’
Oscar winner: Robin Williams took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1997 for his role alongside Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting
Iconic: Tributes have appeared at the Boston bench where Robin Williams’ character in Good Will Hunting gives a monologue on life, love and art to Matt Damon’s Will
‘I’M SORRY TO BE BREAKING THIS NEWS’: CONAN O’BRIEN FORCED TO REVEAL ROBIN WILLIAMS’ DEATH DURING FILMING OF HIS TALK SHOW
TV talk show host Conan O’Brien emotionally broke the news of the death of his friend Robin Williams to his studio audience during filming last night.
His voice cracking with emotion, O’Brien, who interviewed the Hollywood star a number of times, announced the news to gasps of astonishment from those watching. Sombrely facing the camera towards the end of filming, the 51-year-old said:’This is unusual and upsetting, but I’ve got some news during the show that Robin Williams has passed away. ‘I’m sorry to everyone in our studio audience that I’m breaking this news. This is absolutely shocking and horrifying and so upsetting on every level. ‘We’re absolutely stunned to get this news,’ His guest, Canadian comedy actor Will Arnett, who appeared in the 2006 road comedy RV with Williams, added: ‘As funny as he was – he’s one of the all-time greats – he was even better as a person. ‘He was just the loveliest and one of the kindest guys that anyone ever worked with.’ His divorce from his wife of 19 years and mother of two of his three children, film producer Marsha Garces, came a couple of years later and many outside his family’s inner circle opening suspected his substance abuse struggles were to blame. The relapses, it seems, had happened before. In that same Parade interview, Williams described a 2003 relapse, which came after 20 years of sobriety, to the magazine: ‘One day I walked into a store and saw a little bottle of Jack Daniel’s. And then that voice—I call it the lower power—goes, “Hey. Just a taste.” Just one.’ I drank it, and there was that brief moment of “Oh, I’m okay!” But it escalated so quickly. Within a week I was buying so many bottles I sounded like a wind chime walking down the street. I knew it was really bad one Thanksgiving when I was so drunk they had to take me upstairs.’ He described feelings of loneliness and fear that pushed him back towards alcohol at the time he was filming Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia in Alaska with Al Pacino.
Inside: These real estate pictures show the interior of the home in Tiburon, California which is owned by Robin Williams and his family and where the comedy legend was found dead on Monday (pictures date from before Williams purchased the home)
Touching: AJ Polis leaves a flower alongside a placard and a photo of the late actor Robin Williams as Mork from Ork, as people pay their respects at the home where the 80’s TV series “Mork & Mindy”,was set, in Boulder, Colorado
Sure to grow: A bouquet of flowers and a mock Oscar statue lay on Robin Williams star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Monday
You will be missed: Flowers are placed in memory of Robin Williams, the Academy Award winner and comic supernova whose explosions of pop culture riffs and impressions dazzled audiences for decades and made him a gleamy-eyed laureate for the Information Age
Public thanks: Flowers are placed in memory of actor/comedian Robin Williams on his Walk of Fame star in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles
‘I was in a small town where it’s not the edge of the world, but you can see it from there, and then I thought: drinking. I just thought, hey, maybe drinking will help. Because I felt alone and afraid. It was that thing of working so much, and going f***, maybe that will help. And it was the worst thing in the world.’ In a revealing interview with ABC News‘ Diane Sawyer in 2006, the legendary comic opened up about drinking again and said that his descent back into alcoholism was ‘very gradual’. ‘It’s the same voice thought that … you’re standing at a precipice and you look down, there’s a voice and it’s a little quiet voice that goes, ‘Jump,’ Williams told Sawyer. With trademark humor, Williams attempted to make some light of his battle with the bottle during his interview with Sawyer, calling addiction a predator that lies in wait and is always present. ‘It’s fine now, I’m OK. Then, the next thing you know, it’s not OK. Then you realize, ‘Where am I? I didn’t realize I was in Cleveland’, he said. While he recently sought help in Minnesota, in 2006, Williams spent two months in Oregon’s Hazelden Springbrook treatment center. In 2006, he said that he was only drinking, having kicked his well-documented problems with cocaine. Williams often seemed at odds with his public persona, struggling to be seen as something more than just a man with a gift to make people laugh. ‘It’s hard because people want to know you’re a certain thing,’ he told The LA Times in 1991
FANS TURN PARK BENCH FROM FAMOUS SCENE IN GOOD WILL HUNTING INTO TRIBUTE FOR ROBIN WILLIAMS
The bench in Boston where a memorable scene from Good Will Hunting was filmed has been turned into a memorial for the film star. The seat is by a lake in the city’s Public Gardens and formed the backdrop of the famous monologue delivered by his character Sean Maguire, a psychiatrist reaching out to troubled genius janitor Will. In a much-loved scene from the film, which earned Williams a best supporting actor Oscar, Maguire, a widower, calmly takes apart his young, talented patient’s intellectual aloofness and cynical attitude. Maguire says: ‘You’re a tough kid. And I’d ask you about war, you’d probably throw Shakespeare at me, right? “Once more into the breach, dear friends”. ‘But you’ve never been near one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap, and watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. ‘I’d ask you about love, you’d probably quote me a sonnet. But you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable… to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything, through cancer. ‘And you wouldn’t know about sleeping sittin’ up in the hospital room for two months, holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes that the terms ‘visiting hours’ don’t apply to you. ‘You don’t know about real loss, ’cause that only occurs when you’ve loved something more than you love yourself.’ Now fans have written quotes from the film in chalk on the floor around the bench, such as the monologue’s final challenge: ‘Your move, chief’. Another wrote: ‘Sorry guys, I went to see about a girl’ in reference to the scene where Williams talks about the moment he met his beloved wife. Flowers have also been placed at the site. ‘They still say, ‘That’s the little manic guy. He’s the little adrenaline guy. Oh, yeah, he touches himself. He doesn’t do that anymore. But wait a minute. He’s the little manic guy who played the really quiet guy and then the really scary guy. Oh, no, wait….’ Others often saw his manic need to tell jokes as a classic shield to hide his real feelings. ‘He was always in character — you never saw the real Robin,’ said Jamie Masada, founder and chief executive of the Laugh Factory to The LA Times. ‘I knew him 35 years, and I never knew him.’ ‘He was a wonderful guy,’ Masada said to The LA Times. ‘I remember John Belushi and Robin, both of them always complained to me — no matter where they were people would recognize them. ‘They sold their privacy to the public. They could be in the middle of talking in the street and someone would come up for an autograph…. he didn’t realize how much he sold his privacy to people.’ Robin Williams’ half-brother has paid tribute to the star, saying he meant a ‘very great deal’ to him. McLaurin Smith-Williams, 67, shared a mother, Laura McLaurin, with the tragic comic – who was found dead from apparent suicide at his home in Tiburon, California, earlier today – and is still coming to terms with the shocking news.
‘VERY SAD, VERY UPSET’: COMEDY LEGEND’s ONSCREEN MRS. DOUBTFIRE DAUGHTER MARA WILSON LEADS TRIBUTES
Tributes were pouring in after the shocking news of Robin Williams’ death broke on Monday.
Two decades on: Mara Wilson was six-years-old when she starred with Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire and took to Twitter on Monday to express her grief at Robin Williams’ death
Mara Wilson, who played his on-screen daughter in Mrs Doubtfire, was amongst the first to pay their respects to the late actor, whose tragic death aged 63 at his Tiburon, California home is being treated as suspected suicide. The actress, who is now 27, was devastated. She tweeted: ‘Very sad, very upset, very glad I did not have to hear about this though Twitter. Probably going to be taking some time off it for a while.’ Sally Field, who also starred in the movie, said in a statement: ‘I feel stunned and so sad about Robin. I’m sad for the world of comedy. And so very sad for his family. And I’m sad for Robin. ‘He always lit up when he was able to make people laugh, and he made them laugh his whole life long…. tirelessly. He was one of a kind. There will not be another. Please God, let him now rest in peace Robin’s representative told MailOnline: ‘Robin Williams passed away this morning. He has been battling severe depression of late. ‘This is a tragic and sudden loss. The family respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time.’
Sadness: The Matilda actress, 27, said she’d need some time away from the social network
Close: Mara played Robin’s on-screen daughter in 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire. They are pictured centre with Lisa Jakub (L) and Matthew Lawrence (R)
Grief: Robin Williams on the set of The Butler in 2013, tweeted by Lenny Kravitz who wrote: ‘Robin Williams, it was an honor to know you. #restinpeace’
McLaurin has previously talked about how Robin and his other half brother Todd – who had the same father as the funnyman, but who passed away in 2007 – used to meet up with their families every year. He told the Chicago Tribune in 1991: ‘All three of us grew up as only children – Todd, myself and Robin. I was adopted by my mother’s parents after her divorce from her first marriage. Todd grew up with his mother. ‘We all get along famously. Todd is no blood relation to me, but we’re real close.’ Robin’s first two wives, Valerie Velardi, whom he was wed to from 1978 to 1988 and Marsha Garces Williams, whom he was married to from 1989 to 2008, have yet to comment on his death.
Read more / tribute videos: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2722409/Tributes-Robin-Williams-dead-apparent-suicide.html#ixzz3ABkSwONz
Read more: Robin Williams’ ‘utterly heartbroken’ wife Susan Schneider pays touching tribute
Robin Williams: the sadness of a clown that couldn’t be fixed
Williams, like many others, struggled with addiction and personal demons. Mental illness is a great leveler but is still too little understood.
All illness is a great leveler, 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.
Robin Williams: the sadness of a clown that couldn’t be fixed
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