One of Hollywood’s most brilliant funny-men and Oscar winners Robin Williams has tragically died. The actor, who was nominated three times for a Leading Actor Academy Award before eventually winning a Best Supporting Actor gong for Good Will Hunting, was found dead of a suspected suicide at his home in North Carolina.
Williams started out as a stand-out comedian before becoming a huge TV star with Mork & Mindy. The show’s success paved the way for Williams to star in movies and he remained one of the few actors who was able to use his comedic talents to breathtaking levels of serious acting, seen no more clearly than in his Oscar nominated performance in Good Morning Vietnam. Roles in such films as The Fisher King, Dead Poets Society and One Hour Photo proved he had a vast range of talent for more serious roles but he never strayed too far from the comedic performances with turns in such films as Hook, Mrs. Doubtfire and The Birdcage.
Tributes from friends and fellow actors have shown how much he was loved and respected in the industry with Steve Martin saying on Twitter “I could not be more stunned by the loss of Robin Williams, mensch, great talent, acting partner, genuine soul.”
Williams had spent much of his life in an out of rehab and recently returned to “fine-tune and focus his sobriety”. The actor has a number of films awaiting release including returning with Ben Stiller in Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb which will see him again play Teddy Roosevelt.
An actor and star of immeasurable warmth, he rarely appeared on television without making any talk show he was on that much better, he will be hugely missed. RIP Robin Williams.