Robin Williams obituary by Federica Pozzobon
They say the best comedians are actually anguished people hiding their pensiveness and pains behind the funny roles they play.
And now, they know for sure that Robin Williams has been both.
The actor was found dead in his home near Tiburon, California, on Monday the 11th of August, after killing himself at the age of 63. He has been suffering from depression for several years.
If you just look at his eyes and his expression, even in the most comic moments, you will notice that they were really melancholy and profound at the same time.
The Oscar-winner actor leaves three children, a wife and millions of grieving fans around the world.
Through his comedic understanding, the perfect mastery of timing and ingenious way of using the voice, he has been decorated with the highest prizes from the film industry.
Williams attended the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City and his career started as a stand-up comedian, in San Francisco. He reached worldwide fame at the end of the 70es with the role of the alien Mork in the sitcom Mork & Mindy, spin-off series of Happy Days. During the 80es and the 90es he gave proof of his great talent, shifting from the comic roles which made him famous all over the world, to the ones more dramatic and serious, giving to each character a unique mark. Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Mrs Doubtfire, Patch Adams and Good Will Hunting – the one which led him to the Academy Award in 1998 – are just some of the blockbusters he was in.
We hope that his legacy continues to live on for many years to come.
As Mr Keating did with his students, we want to say goodbye to him with the Whitman’s verses, recalling which is maybe the best-known performance he gave in his entire career.
Rest in peace Robin.
“O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! My Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.”
