Prayers for the Dead: Robin Williams
alec vanderboom
I can't believe that actor Robin Williams is dead. Earlier this year we lost one of my favorite actors, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Praying for the soul of Hoffman after his death was hard and sad and confusing. Finding out that Robin Williams died of an apparent suicide seems inconceivable to me tonight.
Robin Williams was 20 years older than me and I grew up with him. First on TV with Mork and Mindy. Then in Popeye. I remember being a teenager and coming out of the movie "Good Morning Vietnam" and feeling changed. It was one of those first movies that I saw the blurry lines of good and evil and feeling like humor and art are a force of ultimate good in our weary world. Later I watched Robin William in Dead Poet's Society and Good Will Hunting. Dozens of years later, I can still easily conjure up William's lines and inflections exactly in multiple scenes from both movies.
Last year, Robin Williams starred in a TV show called "The Crazy Ones" about an advertising agency executive and his daughter. The show was zany and fun. It didn't make any logical sense, but the same year I was starting my own Ad Agency with my husband out of our home. Any time I felt insecure about starting a new project, I'd watch an old episode of "The Crazy Ones" on Hulu. Somehow watching Robin Williams act always made me feel better. "If Robin can do this job, I can to!"
As an audience of moviegoers and TV watchers, we never get to really know actors we love. But I like to think that being a fan means something. If you've enjoyed an actor through several films, or a few decades, there is a special spark of recognition that comes from seeing a favorite preforming a new work.
Robin Williams is dead. I will miss seeing his work. He really made me feel something unique every time I saw him in the movies and on TV.
Saint Genesius of Rome, patron saint of comedians and actors, pray for the soul of Robin Williams. Give peace and strength to his family.
Robin Williams was 20 years older than me and I grew up with him. First on TV with Mork and Mindy. Then in Popeye. I remember being a teenager and coming out of the movie "Good Morning Vietnam" and feeling changed. It was one of those first movies that I saw the blurry lines of good and evil and feeling like humor and art are a force of ultimate good in our weary world. Later I watched Robin William in Dead Poet's Society and Good Will Hunting. Dozens of years later, I can still easily conjure up William's lines and inflections exactly in multiple scenes from both movies.
Last year, Robin Williams starred in a TV show called "The Crazy Ones" about an advertising agency executive and his daughter. The show was zany and fun. It didn't make any logical sense, but the same year I was starting my own Ad Agency with my husband out of our home. Any time I felt insecure about starting a new project, I'd watch an old episode of "The Crazy Ones" on Hulu. Somehow watching Robin Williams act always made me feel better. "If Robin can do this job, I can to!"
As an audience of moviegoers and TV watchers, we never get to really know actors we love. But I like to think that being a fan means something. If you've enjoyed an actor through several films, or a few decades, there is a special spark of recognition that comes from seeing a favorite preforming a new work.
Robin Williams is dead. I will miss seeing his work. He really made me feel something unique every time I saw him in the movies and on TV.
Saint Genesius of Rome, patron saint of comedians and actors, pray for the soul of Robin Williams. Give peace and strength to his family.