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 The comedian's appeal stretched across generations and genres,
from family fare as the voice of Disney's blue Genie in "Aladdin" to
his portrayal of a fatherly therapist in the 1997 drama "Good Will
Hunting," for which he earned his sole Oscar.
But many remembered the master of impressions on Monday for his
tender portrayal in "Mrs. Doubtfire", when he played the part of a
British nanny whose identity he assumed as a divorced father to be
with his children.
Williams had been recently suffering from severe depression, his
publicist Mara Buxbaum said in a statement, and the actor had
repeatedly talked about his past struggles with alcohol.
"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," Williams' wife Susan Schneider said in a
statement.
The Marin County Sheriff's coroner's division said it suspected
Williams committed suicide by asphyxia, but the cause of death is
still under investigation and an autopsy will be conducted Tuesday.
The Sheriff's office said it received an emergency call about noon
local time on Monday, saying Williams was unconscious and not
breathing at his home near Tiburon, north of San Francisco.
Outside the family home in a neighborhood of low-slung houses with
water views, people left flowers and talked about the man who rode
his bike around and had a smile and a wave for children on the
street.
"It wasn't like having a celebrity," said Sonja Conti who said the
actor would often ask about her dog and nicknamed him "Dude." "He
was just a normal, nice guy. People left him alone."
LAUGHTER 'SUSTAINED' HIM
Social media was alight with appreciation for Williams, who
introduced his boyish exuberance and outlandish vaudeville-esque
style to audiences as a quirky extraterrestrial in the late 1970s TV
comedy "Mork & Mindy."
U.S. President Barack Obama called Williams a "one of a kind" actor
who could make people laugh and cry in his array of characters.
"He arrived in our lives as an alien - but he ended up touching
every element of the human spirit," Obama said in a statement.
Williams, who was most recently in the CBS television comedy "The
Crazy Ones" until it was canceled after one season in May, had
entered a rehabilitation center this summer to help him maintain
sobriety.
His representatives at the time said Williams was not using drugs or
alcohol but was there to "fine-tune" his sobriety after a demanding
work schedule.
The death of Williams shook Hollywood, and colleagues mourned the
loss of what many called a big-hearted man and one of the most
inventive comedians of his time.
"Robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and our laughter was
the thunder that sustained him," said Steven Spielberg, who directed
Williams as Peter Pan in the 1991 film, "Hook."
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'HUMBLE' HERO
Williams, who was born in Chicago in 1951 and grew up in suburban
Detroit earned four Academy Award nominations, the first for his
portrayal of U.S. Army radio host Adrian Cronauer during the Vietnam
War in "Good Morning, Vietnam."
He earned nominations for the 1990 coming-of-age prep school drama
"Dead Poets Society" and 1991's "The Fisher King."
Williams married three times, most recently in 2011 to Schneider. He
has three children.
In a 2009, the actor told Reuters that his children often referenced
his own struggles with alcohol when he would confront them about
their own misbehavior.
"They went, 'And you had a three-year drunken relapse.' Ah, thank
you for bringing that back, my little happy creatures," Williams
quipped.
His death also deeply affected his local artists' community, far
from the hype of Hollywood.
"He embodied what it meant to be humble," said Lucy Mercer,
executive artistic director at Throckmorton Theatre, a small venue
near Williams' home, where the actor was known to try out new
material.
"He doused us in his love and positive glow and never asked for
anything in return."
Williams will appear in upcoming film "Night at the Museum: Secret
of the Tomb," playing the statue of Teddy Roosevelt who comes to
life at night, and holiday comedy "Merry Friggin' Christmas." He was
also attached to a sequel to 1993 hit "Mrs. Doubtfire."
In his final posting on Twitter on July 31, Williams had wished his
daughter Zelda a happy 25th birthday. Late on Monday, Zelda wrote on
Twitter: "I love you. I miss you. I'll try to keep looking up."
(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis, Edith Honan and Piya
Sinha-Roy; Writing by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Mary Milliken and
Jeremy Laurence)
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