Robin Williams: What A Concept

This blog site is about movies, television, teaching, faith, and my personal journey of speech issues and Parkinson’s medication…and how it all intersects in my life.  So, today I write about a man, who we watched and loved in television shows and movies, but also a man who we now know was in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease when he died. It has taken me a little while to wrap my head around the death of Robin Williams. While I do not personally suffer from clinical depression and my diagnosis of a Parkinson-like symptom is much different, I definitely understand the fear and the sadness of Parkinson’s disease and the potential of lifelong neurology medication and physical struggles. My hope is that more awareness about depression and Parkinson’s disease will come from this tragedy. 

I said publicly in a TEDx talk last year: one talent, skill, physical attribute, or adversity does not define us.   My hope is that Parkinson’s disease, depression, addiction, or suicide will not define Robin Williams’ life.  In my own small way, this is my tribute to a life lived in so many ways for the sake of others.  Robin Williams has been entertaining us for almost my entire life.  Here are a few of my personal memories of this television, movie, and comedy legend. 

What I would give today to still have my Mork from Ork suspenders.  I wore them all the time in elementary school.  I loved the television show Mork and Mindy.  You see, my love for television started with shows like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, where the Mork character first originated.  Robin Williams lit up the screen every time he came on those shows.  When he became the star of his own sitcom, I was glued to the TV for it every week.  No VCR’s or DVR’s back then – it was must see TV right then right there.  And, I did not miss it.  And, when Jonathan Winters became his half alien/half human son, Mearth, comedy brilliance filled the screen.

I have quoted the movie Good Morning Vietnam ever since it hit the big screen.  There are things I say today that I even forget sometimes come from that movie. And, despite my love of movies, I’m not one to quote movies that often.  A couple of my favorites from GMV: “In the dictionary under ‘asshole’ it says ‘See him,’” or "Fool, it's hot! I told you again! Were you born on the sun? It's damn hot! It's so damn hot, I saw little guys, their orange robes burst into flames. It's that hot!” But, what I remember the most about this movie is my dad watched and laughed too.  He’s a Vietnam veteran, and it’s the only movie about that war he has been able to sit through, enjoy, and discuss. 

My first job in television was in one of the smallest television markets in the country: Kirksville (MO)/Ottumwa (IA).  I could literally write for days about my yearlong stint as a television anchor and reporter in the iciest, most rural part of America.  I met some great people there who I still know today, but that job was a crazy first one.  There was only one movie theater in Kirksville at that time with one or two movie choices, and they didn’t change very much back then.  Luckily, Aladdin was one of those movies.  I saw Aladdin four times (or possibly more) in that theater, often by myself, just to take a break from the freezing cold temperatures, the boredom, the financial poverty of working in a small TV market, and the loneliness of being far away from friends and family for the first time.  Robin Williams’ performance as the Genie was a light in a tough time.  

Every day I walk into my classroom, I hope to have the kind of positive influence on my students that Robin Williams portrayed as Mr. Keating in Dead Poet’s Society. Sure, Mr. Keating might have made some bad choices, but the passion and love of learning that he inspired in his students were incredible. I cannot imagine any other actor in the role of this unconventional teacher.  William’s performance is a tribute to every teacher who has ever gone above and beyond to educate students about real life in the midst of classes about curriculum. 

This past television season, I watched every episode of The Crazy Ones.  It was so good to see Robin Williams back on the small screen playing a wacky advertisement executive.  There was even a Mork and Mindy reunion of sorts, with Pam Dawber, who played Mindy, back with her friend and former co-star for an episode.  I loved the show, but my favorite part of each week was the outtakes reel they showed at the end of each episode.  You could tell the cast genuinely loved working with Williams, and that he kept them laughing constantly.

I could go on and on about the career of Robin Williams with so many amazing performances in films like Good Will Hunting (an Academy Award winning performance), Patch Adams, Jumanji, Mrs. Doubtfire, Hook, Awakenings, and the endless entertainment value of every television interview he ever did.  Television hosts often only had to ask one question, and Williams would shine for every moment of the entire interview. 

Billy Crystal, a close friend of Robin Williams, gave an amazing tribute to his fellow actor at the Emmy Awards ceremony on August 25^th.  Here are some of Crystal’s words about the man who entertained on the big screen, in our living rooms, and for charitable causes around the world:

“He made us laugh. Hard. Every time you saw him - on television, movies, nightclubs, arenas, hospitals, homeless shelters for our troops overseas. And even in a dying girl's living room for her last wish, he made us laugh. Big time.  It is very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in all of our lives. For almost 40 years he was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy. Robin Williams. What a concept.”

If you would like to help advance research for a cure for Parkinson's disease, please consider making a donation to the The Michael J. Fox Foundation, a cause Fox says Robin Williams has always supported.