Robin Williams, the man who brought so many beautiful characters to life, has passed away at 63. Whether you knew him as the eccentric Scottish nanny in Mrs. Doubtfire, as the inspiring English teacher in Dead Poets Society, or as the voice of the outrageously charismatic Genie in Aladdin, you knew him.
There was something about Robin Williams in every one of his roles that I took home with me, like I had learned something about life that I could keep in my back pocket because he taught it to me. In RV, it was that family comes first, above everything else. In Patch Adams, it was that taking the time to make people smile might just be what they need most, no matter what their diagnosis. And in the 90’s classic Flubber, I left knowing that if I followed my dreams with the people I loved by my side, everything would be okay.
It’s a saddening irony that the man who gave a new face to Peter Pan, the boy who stared life in the face and never grew up, has now passed away. But I’m sure Neverland is a lovely place, and I’m sure that Robin Williams is making people smile on his way to the second star on the right and straight on till morning.
Having publicly battled alcoholism, addiction, and depression, Williams is suspected to have committed suicide in his California home Monday morning, August 11, 2014 (via Washington Post). A tragic end to a career and a life that brought happiness to so many, Robin Williams will be forever remembered. After donning tights and a jumper to become the lovable Peter Pan in Hook, Williams delivered a line that warmed hearts everywhere: “To live will be an awfully big adventure.” And that it was.
