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In September 1988, American vocalist and music conductor Bobby McFerrin released the iconic song: Don’t Worry, Be Happy. The Grammy Award winning-song bore the unforgettable lines:
In every life we have some trouble /When you worry you make it double /Don’t worry, be happy.
The video accompanying the soothing, minimalist song had featured McFerrin, Bill Irwin and Robin Williams. Both the song and the video have remained a source of happiness.
On Monday, Robin Williams died.
He was reportedly suffering from severe depression. The news took time sinking in, for Robin Williams always appeared on stage and screen with a sense of indefatigability. In comic roles, he could be a riot. In more serious ones, you felt that boundless energy consciously reined in. Either way, he wasn’t an actor you thought would go away abruptly although Wikipedia says his life featured substance abuse, periods of rehabilitation and reports of bipolar disorder.
It was in 1998 that Robin Williams won the Academy Award after being nominated thrice earlier. He won it in the Best Supporting Actor category for Good Will Hunting. His fellow nominees that year included Anthony Hopkins and Burt Reynolds, not to mention Greg Kinnear nominated for that wonderful film As Good As It Gets.
Watching the video of the proceedings on YouTube, we see that as Mira Sorvino announces each actor’s name, the audience applauds, but the applause is distinctly high when Williams’s name is announced. It gets higher, almost thunderous, when he wins. As he stands on stage, Oscar in hand, he says, “This might be the one time I am speechless.” Then, in characteristic style, among other expressions of gratitude, he thanks his father, “The man who when I said I want to be an actor, said, ‘Wonderful! Just have a back-up profession like welding.’” Brief speech and hug from Billy Crystal later, he leaves the stage doing a funny walk, which as you watch it today, is quite reminiscent of the Don’t Worry, Be Happy music video from 10 years before the 1998 Oscar ceremony.
Williams gave us many memorable films, among them Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Mrs Doubtfire, The Birdcage and Good Will Hunting. He provided voiceover in Happy Feet and helped anchor Night at the Museum. Given his capacity for spontaneous creativity, directors often allowed him room to improvise. He also had a solid reputation as a stand-up comedian. For anyone revisiting the life of Robin Williams, reading up details on the actor as he fades into movie history, a heartwarming chapter would be his friendship with the late Christopher Reeve. Years ago, the two actors had trained together at New York’s Juilliard School. If you go by descriptions on the Internet, the two were very different people — one of modest height, the other 6 feet 4 inches tall; one seemingly a natural actor and bundle of energy, the other preferring a measured, studied approach. Their first successful film roles came in years featuring the same numbers but inversely. For Reeve it was Superman in 1978. Williams found commercial success with Popeye but it was Good Morning Vietnam in 1987 that likely made him a name known globally.
In May 1995, Christopher Reeve suffered an accident while riding a horse that left him paralysed from neck down. Like Monday’s disclosure of “severe depression” for one of the world’s best known comedians, Superman paralysed from neck down was as difficult to accept. Reeve’s initial phase in hospital was the most trying. He contemplated suicide. In June 1995 he was scheduled to have surgery to reconnect his spine to his skull. The thought of it was frightening. As he lay nervous and afraid in the ICU, the door flew open and in hurried a squat fellow with a blue scrub hat and a yellow surgical gown and glasses, speaking in a Russian accent. The man announced that he was a proctologist and he was going to do a rectal exam on Reeve. It was Robin Williams. Wikipedia quotes Reeve — “For the first time since the accident, I laughed. My old friend had helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay.”
From Superman to ordinary people, Robin Williams made us laugh.
Rest in Peace.
