Robin Williams, who transformed American comedy with his manic improvisational genius, won an Academy Award portraying a tough Southie psychologist and reached out personally to Boston’s homeless, died yesterday in an apparent suicide at his California home that stunned all who knew him.
“I’m shocked and pained at the news. I knew he was battling depression. Here’s a guy who did so much to help the mentally ill, but he was suffering, too,” said former Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, who knew and worked with Williams on homelessness issues. “This was an exceptional, decent and kind man. There’s got to be a special place in heaven for Robin Williams.”
Williams, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of an empathetic Bostonian therapist in “Good Will Hunting,” was 63. He was pronounced dead at his home, according to the Marin County sheriff’s office, which said a preliminary investigation showed the cause of death to be a suicide due to asphyxia.
Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider, said in a statement, “This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken. … As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin’s death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions.”
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Williams reached out to Flynn when the former mayor was working to change the former Long Island Hospital into a homeless shelter. The actor agreed to put on a show with Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal “to help out as much as we can and raise money for the homeless in Boston,” Flynn said.
Susan and Jack Woods, the owners of the L Street Tavern, which was featured prominently in “Good Will Hunting,” said in a statement, “He was a very good friend to South Boston. He was always very generous and charitable.”
During the movie’s filming, Boston police Lt. William Meade walked Williams back and forth from his trailer to the South Boston movie set.
“It was the best two or three minutes of my day,” Meade recalled. “He would talk to you like a regular guy. I think it started out with a Patriots joke, and then a Red Sox joke. We’d talk about how many pages of script he had, and what was on the menu that day.”
Meade, who now acts as the department’s film liaison, said even after 18 years of meeting stars, Williams remains one of his favorites. “We started chatting right away. He was very thankful and respectful of the police department. He was always happy, just a great guy to talk to,” Meade said. “I don’t think people realize what they’ve lost.”
Boston funnyman Lenny Clarke, who worked with Williams nearly a dozen times doing multiple comedy shows around the country, said the comedy world “lost one of the all-time greats.”
“When he first came to Boston back in the old days, we worked on stage together and, oh man, did we have a long weekend that night,” Clarke said. “He was a great guy. He had his own niche, and no one else had it. For someone who brought so much happiness, to know he was fighting his own demons is just terrible.”
President Obama said in a statement, “He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most — from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets. The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin’s family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams.”
From his breakthrough in the late 1970s as the alien in the hit TV show “Mork & Mindy,” through his stand-up act and such films as “Good Morning, Vietnam,” the short, barrel-chested Williams ranted and shouted as if just sprung from solitary confinement. Loud, fast, manic, he parodied everyone from John Wayne to Keith Richards, impersonating a Russian immigrant as easily as he did a pack of Nazi attack dogs.
He was a riot in drag in “Mrs. Doubtfire,” or as a cartoon genie in “Aladdin.”
The Chicago-born, Juilliard-trained Williams recalled himself as a shy kid who got some early laughs from his mother — by mimicking his grandmother.
His personal life, though, was often short on laughter.
He had acknowledged drug and alcohol problems in the 1970s and ’80s and was among the last to see John Belushi before the “Saturday Night Live” star died of a drug overdose in 1982.
Williams had been battling severe depression recently, said Mara Buxbaum, his press representative.
Williams announced in recent years that he was again drinking but rebounded well enough to joke about it during his recent tour. “I went to rehab in wine country,” he said, “to keep my options open.”
Herald wire services were used in this report.
