A new generation of Hollywood royalty led by Oscar-winners Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have joined the greats of stand-up comedy in hailing Robin Williams, as police confirmed this morning that the actor took his own life.
In a tribute to the 63-year-old comic actor’s influence on younger greats, Williams’ co-stars from Good Will Hunting – the film that won him his Oscar – joined the global outpouring of emotion.
“Heartbroken. Thanks chief – for your friendship and for what you gave the world,” said Affleck.
“Robin had a ton of love in him. He personally did so much for so many people. He made Matt and my dreams come true. What do you owe a guy who does that? Everything.”
Police this morning confirmed that Williams took his own life by hanging himself at his San Francisco Bay Area home.
Marin County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Keith Boyd said he was found in a bedroom by his personal assistant at his Tiburon home.
Boyd said toxicology tests would be performed and the investigation was ongoing, but Sheriff’s officials said a preliminary investigation determined the cause of death was suicide due to asphyxia.
He refused to say whether a note was found.
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Williams had suffered for years from periodic bouts of substance abuse and depression, and announced last month he was returning to a 12-step treatment program.
He made reference to his substance abuse and depression in his comedy routines, including when he sought treatment in 2006 after a relapse that followed 20 years of sobriety.
He joked about that fall off the wagon during a comedy tour, saying: “I went to rehab in wine country to keep my options open.”
Likewise, when word spread about his struggles with drugs in the early 1980s, Williams responded with a joke that for a time became a catchphrase for his generation’s recreational drug use: “Cocaine is God’s way of telling you you are making too much money.”
News of Williams’ death quickly supplanted the conflict in Iraq as the top item on evening news bulletins in America as people reacted with shock.
“Robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and our laughter was the thunder that sustained him”
US President Barack Obama, on holiday in Martha’s Vineyard, spoke of Williams’ array of beloved performances as he led the tributes to the entertainer.
“Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind, ” Obama said in a statement.
“He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit,” he added, referring to Williams’ breakthrough television role as the extra-terrestrial visitor Mork.
“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 marginalised on our own streets.”
Director Steven Spielberg paid tribute to “a comic genius”.
“Robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and our laughter was the thunder that sustained him,” said the director.
“He was a pal and I can’t believe he’s gone,” added Spielberg, who famously regularly phoned Williams to cheer himself up during filming of his harrowing 1994 Holocaust drama Schindler’s List.
Spielberg’s tribute was echoed throughout an entertainment industry left reeling by news of the comedian’s death.
“I can’t believe the news about RobinWilliams. He gave so much to so many people. I’m heartbroken,” comic and talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres said on Twitter.
Fellow comedian Steve Martin added: “I could not be more stunned by the loss of RobinWilliams, mensch, great talent, acting partner, genuine soul.”
Further from the rarified air of Hollywood, the stand-up performers who shared the comedy circuit with Williams also chimed in.
“Goodbye pal. Thanks for everything,” wrote Louis C.K., who cast Williams to play himself in an episode of his sitcom.
“So sad. So funny,” added Chris Rock, one of the few stand-ups who could fill an arena-sized venue like Williams.
Williams was also saluted by many military veterans, hailed as one of the most dedicated of the performers to tour overseas war theatres like Iraq and Afghanistan to entertain US troops.
Fans worldwide united in grief via social media, with #RobinWilliams trending on Twitter throughout the day.
Miniature shrines popped up at Williams’ star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, a park bench in Boston that featured in Good Will Hunting and the Victorian house in Colorado where his breakthrough 1970s space alien sitcom Mork and Mindy was recorded.
“He was a giant heart, a fireball friend, a wondrous gift from the gods,” said British actor, director and Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam. “Now the selfish bastards have taken him back.”
Australian tributes
Australian director George Miller, who worked with Williams on the Happy Feet movies, said he was stunned by the quick-witted actor’s death and praised him as “one of a kind and a genius in every way”.
“He was someone who was breathtakingly intelligent,” he said, adding that Williams’ observations of the world fuelled the wonderful material he came up with, often on the spot.
“The fact that he’s no longer able to give that to the world is really tough.”
Miller said the man who voiced two different penguins in Happy Feet 2 had a “massive heart”.
“He was incredibly humble but you could see the delight he had when he knew he could make people laugh,” he said. “He actually, in that way he was like a child, he would just delight in making people laugh.”
Australians said as much on Twitter yesterday, calling Williams everything from an “artistic genius” to “beautifully original” and “a comic’s dream”.
For hours the terms #RIPRobinWilliams, Mrs Doubtfire, Rest in Peace and What Dreams May Come were the top four nationally trending topics on Twitter.
“O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up – for you the flag is flung – for you the bugle trills,” ABC journalist Leigh Sales tweeted in a reference to Williams’ role as English teacher John Keating in 1989 film Dead Poets Society.
“The world’s lost an amazing personality and human being. RIP RobinWilliams,” Socceroos legend Tim Cahill tweeted.
While golfing stalwart Greg Norman wrote: “My fav comedian of all time is longer with us. As I take off I am in a state of shock. RIP RobinWilliams u were to good a man to b gone.”
Singer Delta Goodrem tweeted that Williams “had a special place in everyone’s heart”.
Comedian Adam Hills also paid tribute to the Good Morning, Vietnam star.
“RobinWilliams was the reason I started doing comedy. I got to tell him that once. I wanted to tell him again. So sad. So very very sad,” the former Spicks and Specks host tweeted.
Williams was known for his impromptu performances Down Under at local haunts such as Sydney’s Harold Park Hotel, where Hills also used to perform.
Roars of laughter were said to have erupted from the popular Forest Lodge pub, which also hosted the likes of Andrew Denton, Ben Elton and Tom Gleeson.
Comedian Austen Tayshus was present for two such sets during the late `80s and described them as “raucous”.
“Particularly for an audience in an intimate space like that,” he told AAP.
“The place was roaring with laughter.”
Tayshus, who’s best known for his 1983 comedy single Australiana, hailed Williams as a “white Richard Pryor” for his snappy stand-up style that spawned his debut comedy album Reality … What a Concept in 1980.
“He was fast and furious, and he was energetic – and very improvisational,” he said.
“We were all very influenced and inspired by that style of stand-up, which was very different from the previous generation of telling one-liners.”
During a stint living in Australia during filming of Happy Feet 2, Williams continued his impromptu stand-up acts, performing at King Cross club The Sugar Mill, during which he affectionately labelled AFL as “rugby in a thong”.
That year the actor made Australians laugh – and angered Kevin Rudd – when he jokingly dubbed Aussies “English rednecks” on US TV.
He apologised to the then-prime minister, and offered to take him to a strip club the next time he visited the US.
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.
