Robin Williams - When the Laughter Stops 1951-2014 (16 page)

And were the younger actors intimidated by his improvisation? ‘Oh, no, they keep up, and they’re quicker than me,’ insisted Robin. ‘They’re as quick if not faster. For
me, at 62 now … that’s why I’ve got to find the rhythms, get back up to speed. By the end of the pilot, I was like, “OK, oh, it’s over. Now I’ve got to get back into shape, find the character, find the moments. How outrageous can you be?”’

That was not quite the full story, however, of which more below.

The reviews were, to put it mildly, mixed. ‘Williams can’t resist falling back on his old bag of tricks on occasion – cartoon voices, gurning, rambling wordplay – but there’s a decent amount of pathos to his performance as part-buffoon, part-genius Simon Roberts too and the comedy veteran shares a warm, genuine chemistry with his onscreen offspring Gellar,’ said Morgan Jeffery of
Digital Spy.

Meanwhile, Rob Owen of the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
was keeping an open mind: ‘Whether
The Crazy Ones
can come together as a series over time remains an open question, but the pilot offers enough charm and humor to warrant future consideration.’

However, Ross Bonaime of
Paste
was cutting: ‘I don’t know how it does it, but
The Crazy Ones
continues to be one of the most boring comedies with one of the most amazing casts on the air today. The entire show is just treading on “meh.” It also feels like this show just exists in a vacuum, with nothing in any prior episode really having an effect on anything that comes after it. There are no continuing story arcs, nor any real characters to really bond with.’

‘Created by and executive produced by David E. Kelley,
The Crazy Ones
stars Williams as advertising genius Simon Roberts, while Gellar plays his daughter Sydney, who also happens to be his business partner,’ wrote Kelly West in
Cinemablend.com
. ‘Roberts is energetic and outlandish in exactly what you’d expect from the frequently riffing funny man, Williams, while Sydney is a bit more reserved, not always eager to follow along with her father’s lightning-fast line of thinking and goofy behavior.’

The Boston Herald
was probably closest to the mark, saying, ‘Williams seems exhausted.’

Given that the constant waterfall of films had by no means dried up, he might well have been exhausted. Now in his sixties, even his superhuman energy surely had its limits. But there was also a sense that he was beginning to give up. He had had a very difficult few years and the depression that was never far away once more held him in thrall.

Worse, according to some people at least, he was drinking again. One scene was shot at a famous watering hole called Wolfgang Puck, in Beverly Hills, home of the power lunch. ‘Robin insisted on a real drink,’ said a source. ‘No one had seen him drinking before this. One drink led to another, but it seemed to calm him down.’ If true, this was not good news: not only was he drinking again, he wasn’t even attempting to hide it. When he fell off the wagon in 2003, he did at least make some effort to conceal what he was doing, telling bartenders he was buying drinks for someone else. Now, ten years on, he didn’t seem to care who knew.

There were other problems as well. Williams had been hired because he was zany and improvisational but, when he started doing the same on set, it was rumoured that the rest of the cast couldn’t cope. Sarah Michelle Gellar, in particular, was said to have found it very difficult to work like this, although it must be added that she has never said a word about this publicly and was greatly distressed to hear the news of his death. And it was not like the days of
Mork & Mindy
. Back then, Robin had been an extremely ambitious and charming twenty-something, eager to make his mark. Now he was in his sixties and what you can get away with in your twenties doesn’t necessarily work several decades on. He himself was complaining about the lack of chemistry in the cast and the feeling was reciprocated. There were mutterings among cast members about his neediness and constant attempts to be the centre of attention. Again, it had worked with Mork; Simon was not the same.

He also upset a lot of people by bringing his rescue pug, Leonard, to the set. ‘He brought it everywhere with him,’ the source revealed. ‘When he wasn’t filming a scene, he was holding and petting and fawning over the dog.’ Some people found it disruptive; Robin’s attention seemed to be elsewhere

In all, the show was turning into a very unhappy experience and this was mirrored in the viewing figures. It started off with 15.52 million viewers – the highest-viewed premiere that autumn – but fell to just 5.23 million by the series finale. Williams was nominated for various
awards for his role but didn’t win anything. However, Sarah Michelle Gellar picked up the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, which may have been somewhat galling.

In May 2014 it was announced that the show had been cancelled. So that had been his TV comeback. Not exactly the glorious return everyone had hoped for. And for a man who was already finding it hard to cope, it was a devastating blow.

In July of that year he was back in rehab. Publicly, it was denied that he’d had another relapse: ‘After working back-to-back projects, Robin is simply taking the opportunity to fine-tune and focus on his continued commitment, of which he remains extremely proud,’ said a statement. But it was clear to those around him that something was very, very wrong. He had been fretting for years about his film career, his television comeback hadn’t worked out and, according to some, he was finding it really difficult to stay on the wagon.

Having spent a lifetime fighting them off, he was now overwhelmed by his demons. And when people get to that stage they no longer realise they have the support of a family behind them. As his daughter was to comment, Robin simply didn’t realise how much he was loved.

No one can tell what finally pushes a person over the edge. Robin Williams had plunged into a terrible abyss but, while career setbacks undoubtedly played a part, he had been fighting depression all his life. Health and money concerns didn’t help but what happened to him was the result of a lifelong struggle, not a series of setbacks that left him feeling down. And as his daughter Zelda pointed out after his death, he didn’t realise how much he was loved. Even those who had professed to dislike him in his heyday were grief-stricken when they learned of his fate.

But Williams changed the face of light entertainment. He might have made a few ropy films but he made some excellent ones too, which have become a part of our popular culture. Even
Mork & Mindy
, a lightweight television show, is fondly mentioned by a generation. And he was the outstanding stand-up act of his era, an artist no one could take on with any hope of competing and someone who could reduce vast theatre audiences to helpless, weeping laughter. But to have the energy to do that would always betoken a darker side. And in a way, his attempt to control his wilder side could almost be seen as having a diminishing effect upon himself.

‘It’s been a sequence,’ he told
Rolling Stone
as far back as 1991. ‘With
Good Morning, Vietnam,
people said, “Ah, at last he’s found a way to be funny and still be a little restrained.” With
Dead Poets Society,
they went, “Oh, this is interesting – he’s even more restrained.” And with
Awakenings
, it’ll be, “Look! He’s medicated! He’s gone even further. What’s he playing next? He’s playing a door.” And after that? A black hole.’

Without wishing to become too much the amateur psychologist, that black hole was what he finally fell into, like a number of other outstanding comedians who were finally floored by a world with which they could not cope. Robin was often accused of being too sentimental: possibly, but too sensitive would probably be closer to the mark.

‘Williams seemed to have an uncanny ability and vulnerability to take on so many personas,’ Dwight
DeWerth-Pallmeyer, associate professor of communication studies at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, told the
Christian Science Monitor.
‘Williams could intellectually get inside characters in a nuanced way that reflected both the depth of the characters he played and his own intelligence.’

But to do that, of course, made him even more vulnerable: if he was portraying a damaged character, he had to feel that damage himself. And he was damaged, badly. He never stopped portraying the man-child because he never stopped
being
the man-child. Even his decidedly adult activities, drugs and the odd period of promiscuity arose from an inner neediness. Admittedly, he went through various debauched periods in his life but he himself was not actually a debauched man.

‘There was also a depth of humanity in his work, an understanding of what it means to be different, and how everyone has a creative and generous side – he thoroughly understood and explored the impulse to connect with others at a very basic level, something that the best entertainers know how to tap in to in order to speak about larger truths,’ Derek A. Burrill, associate professor of Media and Cultural Studies at UC Riverside in California told the
Christian Science Monitor,
comparing Williams to Tom Hanks, Bill Cosby, Peter Sellers and Richard Pryor – ‘that special something’.

Williams also changed the look of stand-up, becoming a hugely important character in San Francisco’s growing comedy scene and debuting a free-flying improvisational
style that had not really been done before. He influenced a whole generation of up-and-coming comedians, not least Jim Carrey, who in his early days would do an impression of Mork. And he really raised the bar when it came to comedy: few could match his levels of energy and sense of anarchy. His legacy unquestionably remains.

And all that agonising about his career was not strictly necessary – he was actually one of the most successful actors of his generation. His movies have grossed a combined $3.2 billion in the United States and $5.2 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. He’s been in thirteen films that have grossed more than $100 million in the US – pretty good going by anybody’s standards. And he would have received even more off the back of DVD sales and rentals. The major plum roles might have been drying up but he lasted for thirty years at the top, far longer than all but a handful of actors. Many younger comedians who managed a few years as the hottest thing in town have now been largely forgotten but Robin Williams certainly hasn’t, as was obvious from the reaction when he died.

Williams’ ongoing status as a Hollywood player with clout was confirmed by the fact that, at the time of his death, 11 August 2014, he still had three films to be released. Those were
A Merry Friggin’ Christmas,
about an estranged father and son taking a road trip together;
Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb
, in which he reprised his role as Theodore Roosevelt in the second sequel in the popular franchise; and
Absolutely Anything,
a sci-fi tale starring Simon Pegg and
Kate Beckinsale, in which he voices an animated dog called Dennis. There was also
Boulevard
, another art-house movie which, at the time of writing, has no release date.

The endless talks about a sequel to
Mrs. Doubtfire
had also resumed, though, in the wake of his death, it seems unlikely to go ahead. Director Chris Columbus gave a statement to
Variety
after Robin died: ‘His performances were unlike anything any of us had ever seen; they came from some spiritual and otherworldly place. He truly was one of the few people who deserved the title of “genius,”’ he said.

Given that line-up, it does seem as though his financial difficulties were all in the mind. Perhaps it was ageing that got to him. He was in his sixties – no age at all these days – but Hollywood is always on the lookout for the new and Robin couldn’t be said to be that anymore. But he was a true original, an enormously talented man who was able to move from stand-up to serious, as well as a kind-hearted and generous individual.

The legendary Robin Williams himself may no longer be with us but his star will continue to shine for many years to come.