When I heard the news yesterday that Robin Williams died of an apparent suicide, I just couldn't believe it. It almost felt like a cruel hoax, some fake news announcement that would pop up on Twitter on April Fool's Day. While I am now old enough to recall the death of countless celebrities, none of them had the impact on my childhood the way Robin Williams did.
Williams actually appeared in the first movie I ever saw in theaters, Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest, which I saw when I was four. In it, Williams voiced Batty Koda, a bat that is not only experimented on, but raps about it. But it was his performance as the Genie in Disney's Aladdin that people of my generation will surely remember him most by. Aladdin is a great movie by itself, but it was the Genie that made it extraordinary, not just because of his comedic impersonations but because he gave the role a hundred percent even though nobody could see his face (although a dispute with Disney caused him to drop out of the role of the Genie in the video sequel Return of Jafar, he did return to voice the role in Aladdin and the King of Thieves).
When I was seven, I went to see Jumanji with my mom, grandmother, and brother. The movie was way too scary for my brother, who was five at the time, so he and my mom left the theater to see Balto instead, while my grandmother and I continued to watch the fantasy-adventure film based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg. My grandmother still watches it every time it comes on TV, and to this day I consider it one of the best plot-driven movies I have ever seen. And when I was nine my mom took my brother and I to see Flubber. I don't remember much about that movie, but I do remember Robin Williams being the motivating factor for us seeing it.
Mrs. Doubtfire is by far one of his greatest performances, yet the movie is also a great way to help children of divorce cope. When Williams as Dobtfire looks into the camera and talks in a calming manner about the realities of divorce, about how some parents get back together while others don't, it's as if a real human being is speaking and not some guy dressed in drag. My own parents were getting divorced when I was re-watching the ending of Mrs. Doubtfire, and it helped me feel better about the whole situation.
As I got older I saw Williams in his more dramatic films such as Dead Poets Society, Jack, Patch Adams, and Good Will Hunting, which earned him the Academy-Award for Best Supporting Actor. Of all his dramatic performances, Patch Adams will arguably be the most talked about in the days, weeks, months, and even years after his passing since it almost disturbingly parallels what happened in his own life. In the beginning of the movie, Williams character is sent to a psych ward for trying to kill himself, and in the middle of the film he contemplates jumping off a cliff after his girlfriend is killed in a murder-suicide
In a statement, William's wife Susan Schneider said she hopes that "the focus will not be on (her husband's) death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions". To me, Robin Williams will always be the Genie that turned a street rat into a Prince, a divorced father who dressed up as a woman in order to spend more time with his kids, and a board-game player battling against lions and other wild animals. In other words, the guy who helped make a my childhood a very special one.
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