Goodbye, Our Beloved Robin Williams
Posted by Michelle Moquin on August 12th, 2014
Good morning!
I am so saddened to hear about the tragic death of Robin Williams. I am heartbroken. Like probably so many of you, I grew up watching Robin Williams too. First seeing him on Mork and Mindy, and then on the big screen. He was truly one of my favorites – his comedy always left me in stitches, wanting more. He was an amazing authentic artist who had mastered his craft. To this day I still watch youtube videos of some of my favorite comedy acts that he has performed. And like many of you, I have my favorite movies from Mrs. Doubtfire to Good Will Hunting, Birdcage, Happy Feet…the list goes on.
I had the privilege to work with Robin Williams.
Many years ago, I was costuming in the film industry and I was called to work on Francis Ford Coppola’s new movie “Jack” starring Robin Williams, Jennifer Lopez, Bill Cosby and Diane Lane. I had been a huge fan of Williams for so long, I was simply ecstatic knowing I was going to get the opportunity to meet and work with him.
The cast had a bunch of little kids in the film, so Francis decided that it would be good if some of the main characters of the film and a small crew worked together so that everyone, especially the kids, could get to know and bond with each other, before we started filming. I was part of the intimate cast and crew, and for the next week or so, we were going to be rehearsing at Francis’s home in Napa.
I remember the first day I met Robin Williams. I was hanging out getting some of the costumes ready when Robin quietly walked into the room where I was, and a member of the crew introduced him to me. He seemed very shy as his head hung down, not quite looking me in the eye, as he shook my hand and quietly said, “Nice to meet you.” I remember quietly responding back with the same.
That first day was all about Robin playing with the kids. If you remember the film “Jack,” Robin plays an overgrown, 10-year-old child. The shyness I experienced earlier was no where to be found. He was just like a big kid as he rolled around with the rest of the kids.
At lunchtime, it was me, Robin, Francis, the kids, and a few others. I was talking to Francis when Robin sat down with his plate of food, began to eat and didn’t say a thing.
And then it began.
After a few minutes, Robin said a word or two about something…I think it was about the food. Then he cracked some little joke that we all chuckled at. And then it grew into a full blown comedy act, with all of us hysterically laughing.
And then it would end.
And Robin would go back to quietly eating, head down, as if this amazing show of talent never happened. It was quite mind blowing.
I remember speaking to a friend years later who was a “Medium” and she informed me that Robin Williams was a topic of conversation amongst her group of “Mediums.” They would watch him perform and analyze his comedy and conclude that he was channeling many different beings. I found the comment interesting however, I don’t really believe that. I believe he was just a super talented, one of a kind, brilliant man, who was a master at rapidly firing spontaneous comedy that amazed all who watched him.
This spontaneous comedy act would happen almost every day that we ate lunch together. It was one film that I had the most fun working on and as you can see, it isn’t hard to imagine why.
After a few days, the cast and crew were working together like clockwork. And every day that I saw Robin, he would scream out my name, and with his arms wide open he would run and give me a big bear of a hug. He made everyone feel comfortable and never held himself in a light that was any brighter than anyone else. I loved every minute that I got to work with him.
I’m going to miss Robin Williams very much. Hearing of his death yesterday was shocking…I am incredibly sad and emotional. He has brought so much laughter to my life…to the world. I am so grateful that I got to personally be with him and for the fun and wonderful memories that were created. I so enjoyed seeing his talent evolve over the years. I’m going to miss seeing his talent expand even further as he I feel he has gotten better and better with age and wisdom. No doubt he had so much more in him to share with us that we will unfortunately not be blessed with.
Robin: You were the best. Thank you for making me laugh so hard I cried. Thank you for treating me like an old friend. Thank you for giving me such wonderfully funny and sweet memories. I know how much you struggled with your addictions, which lead to so much suffering. I HOPE you can now rest in peace. Sending you LOVE…and my deepest condolences to your family and friends.
Readers: Do you have a favorite movie of Robin Williams? What will you remember best about him? Blog me.
Peace & Love.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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August 12th, 2014 at 11:56 am
Hafa adai Robin Williams. RIP.
August 12th, 2014 at 12:37 pm
RIP Robin Williams. (I didn’t even know he was my neighbor)
Michelle, “What Dreams May Come” was one of my favorites.
It seems like maybe it’s a good time to remind people there are other options than suicide. If you are feeling suicidal, or having suicidal thoughts, please talk to someone. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 1-800-273-TALK or http://www.suicidepreventionhotline.org.
Much love to everybody,
/SB
August 12th, 2014 at 1:52 pm
That was a beautiful testimonial Michelle.
August 12th, 2014 at 1:53 pm
Fuck it! if you’ve a mind to get the hell out. Do it1
August 12th, 2014 at 2:05 pm
I for one will miss Robin Williams. He was one of the bright comedians who brought comedy up a notch with his manic style of Standup in the 1980′s. He was noticed and made it to television and movies and brought his insane humor with him in all the characters he played.
He was talented and was loved by most everyone I know and left his mark on the world.
I will surely miss him.
HOWIE
August 12th, 2014 at 3:50 pm
May Robin Williams Rest In Peace. He was certainly a character. He will be missed by many.
August 12th, 2014 at 5:14 pm
Lovely send off Michelle.
August 12th, 2014 at 5:24 pm
Reports are Lauren Bacall passed too. Another icon gone. I wonder who the “third” will be?
/SB
August 12th, 2014 at 5:36 pm
Those of you bitching about the NSA, Check this out.
The latest privacy controversy Facebook has had to manage.
The social network admitted in June that it performed psychological experiments on users by manipulating their timelines.
News of the experiments, which tried to alter users’ moods based on what they read, incited public furor over the company’s continuous push of privacy boundaries.
======================
Did you read that carefully? They performed PSYCHOLOGICAL experiments on you. WTF!!!
And you don’t know the true details of what they were or the long terms effects. So keep bitching about the NSA while you tool along with your FaceBook accounts.
I wonder if it was truly Robin Williams choice to commit suicide. He was active in many causes that pissed off the 1%. R.I.P. my man.
August 12th, 2014 at 10:16 pm
You can have a million fans and yet still feel alone. Too bad he couldn’t feel the love the world had for him. RIP sweet soul.
http://youtu.be/uQrVf71NjyQ
August 12th, 2014 at 11:02 pm
Hey M I saw your post on our mutual friends FB page re Robin and how he always made you feel like a close friend. I happened to have drinks tonight w that same friend and it was interesting to me that his experience w Robin was the complete opposite of yours. Even though they knew each other professionally and otherwise for many years he said he could never connect w Robin. He felt he just wasn’t present. There was nothing there there.
Personally I think RW must have been an extremely sensitive soul and just reached his limit. That I can relate to.
Still, suicide is not the answer people!
/SB
August 13th, 2014 at 4:19 am
First time I’ve ever heard George W/N make a lick of sense. If one is “seriously suicidal”, it is better to just get it the fuck over with than to continue to live in a hopelessly miserable state. One cannot suffer an entire lifetime to spare loved ones a few moments grief. Medical help will only keep you broke and spilling your guts to those who could care less. Just do it and RIP.
August 13th, 2014 at 8:03 am
Mark – help the world and show em how it’s done.
/SB
August 13th, 2014 at 9:05 am
Social Butterfly#13, just because you don’t have the same opinion as Mark doesn’t make yours the right one.
I agree with you though. My cousin committed suicide, he was so rich that I thought that it was a waste. Then I discovered that he was was a serial killer.
He said in his will that he trusted me above all. He left me $138 million and his private estate. I won’t say where. No one objected because he left them much more and he left a part in his will that said if anyone contested; his money should not be dispersed until it was used to settle the dispute. Only I would get mine and the estate, the rest of his estate would defend the objection before any money was dispersed.
So everyone had to agree to get anything. I got his private estate. When I arrived I noticed that his personal guards had all disappeared even though he had been very generous to them also. Some got close to a million each.
What I discovered was torture chambers, more than 2 thousand graves, neatly stacked with places for more than a thousand more.
He was 63 years old a multibillionaire and he had started killing and torturing his victims at the age of 23. He left a meticulous detailed account of his life including bribes, assaults, petty burglaries, rapes, murders and political meetings with the elites of politics.
In his private accounting to me he bragged about paying off cops from the locals to the FBI to many in the secret cops of this country.
I was stunned. He said that he had always intended to kill himself 40 years later if he hadn’t reached his intended goal of 4,000 killed and 4,000 imprisoned in a foreign country of “merit.” His goal was to do 100 each a year for 40 years. In some of his early years, he did twice that number in individual categories.
He never explained what he meant by “merit,” nor did he tell me where the prisoners were. He did say that it gave him great pleasure knowing they would starve to death because he was the only one who knew were they were imprisoned in a special dungeon 100 feet under ground.
He said as a clue, he wanted me to know that it took 3 years to design and compete his underground fortress of “solitude.” He said that he felt like god because they depended upon his kindness to keep them alive.
I called key members of the family together and showed them the bodies and said that we would have to call the authorities or those people would die. They said that it could tie up his estate for decades. They said it would be better to just get rid of the bodies on his estate and forget about the rest.
When we began to open some of the well preserved cases with corpses in them, we discovered that they had been embalmed and mummified so that he could go back and observe how he killed them or re raped those he kidnapped for that purpose.
He made short films of his raping, torturing, or however he chose to kill them. The victims were all races, both genders and ages ranged from babies to late 60′s.
He did not discriminate. There were more white victims than most but over all it was an across the board selection of victims. The place felt like a huge wine cellar. The bodies were well preserved. He had several different crematoriums.
I discovered from some of his films that he also enjoyed throwing jews into various ones. He would dress up as a SS General and have his guards strip them and toss their babies in front of them alive into one and take close ups of their anguish before he forced them into one.
I loved this guy. He was one of the most giving persons I knew. He wasn’t your average republican. He gave to worthy causes everywhere.
Before we used those crematoriums to dispose of the bodies which we are still doing. We attempted to clean them out with his modern equipment designed to do just that, but the operation of some of the high degree flame throwers required expert knowledge and skill to operate.
We discovered that he had filmed his assistants doing just that on a periodic bases. So we called them in and demanded that they finish the job or we would turn their asses in.
The bastards had left some 370 bodies in various states of cremation laying around. They claimed he liked seeing a few not burned to ashes.
I discovered that was true because he had set the fire temperature in a few of his crematories to a level that was not capable of burning bone completely only flesh. But I made them finish the job just the same.
Some of the people who worked for him in law enforcement and justice are now governors, judges, top law officials or dead.
Every now and then I send an edited private copy to one of them. I owned the bastards. But my point is some people should be allowed to kill themselves.
August 13th, 2014 at 9:07 am
Petition to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, and Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson:
“Every day, African American residents of Ferguson and Missouri face possible abuse and death at the hands of officers due to discriminatory policing tactics based on dehumanizing racial stereotypes.
Exercise your authority to complete a rigorous investigation of the Ferguson Police Department’s racially discriminatory policing, prosecute officers involved to the fullest extent of the law, and begin the firing process for all officers with a record of abuse.”
August 13th, 2014 at 9:10 am
R.I.P. Robin. I wish you had taken your own advice when you said no one should commit suicide because it was a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
August 13th, 2014 at 9:13 am
Robin the way you chose to end it said a lot about your desperation. To hang yourself with a belt must have been a horrible and slow way to go.
RIP
August 13th, 2014 at 9:14 am
That was a beautiful account Michelle. RIP RW.
August 13th, 2014 at 10:06 am
Just days ago, a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, racially profiled and fatally shot unarmed, 18-year-old, Michael Brown as he walked to his grandmother’s residence with a friend.
1. Eye witnesses report that the police officer, who has yet to be identified, fired several shots at Michael as the African-American youth stood in the street with his hands in the air. His family and local community members are calling his death an execution.
Racially motivated police violence has no place in law enforcement. That’s why we’re joining our allies at ColorOfChange.org in calling for a rigorous investigation, prosecution, and dismissal of all officers involved in this tragic police killing.
Tell the U.S. Department of Justice and Missouri authorities to investigate the Michael Brown murder and ensure that all police officers involved in shooting the unarmed youth are prosecuted to the full extent of the law and permanently removed from duty.
This incident is of such national importance that President Obama addressed the situation, saying that the Department of Justice would be investigating what happened in Ferguson.
But we need more than an inquiry — the attorney general must ensure that the federal government will see that justice is done as local authorities are highly compromised by a history of racial profiling and police overreach.
Dorian Johnson, Michael’s good friend, experienced the entire police killing from just feet away.
2. Detailing the police attack, Dorian reveals the officer’s attack from start to finish, with the officer’s first words to the teens, “get the f—k on the sidewalk.”
The officer’s aggression escalated, and as Michael stood in the street with his hands in the air, the officer fired the fatal shots. Michael’s last words were, “I don’t have a gun, stop shooting!” He was set to start college just two days later.
Law enforcement officials are working hard to construct a false narrative and make it harder to hold the officers accountable, even refusing to interview the primary eyewitness of the police killing.
3. Enough is enough. This tragic police killing is representative of the systemic police abuse affecting African-American communities in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country.
Last year, African-American Missouri residents were 66% more likely to be stopped by police, and more likely to be arrested, even though white residents were more likely to be found with contraband.
4. And despite representing just a third of Ferguson’s population, African-Americans are 86% of those stopped by police while driving.
5. Decades of entrenched police violence and racial profiling policies targeting African-American youth on the basis of dehumanizing stereotypes has now led to the brutal police murder of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Tell the U.S. Department of Justice and Missouri authorities to investigate the Michael Brown murder and ensure that all police officers involved in shooting the unarmed youth are prosecuted to the full extent of the law and permanently removed from duty.
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/mike_brown_justice?t=5&akid=11406.4306755.3lanfd
Thank you for speaking out.
Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets
August 13th, 2014 at 10:42 am
The Gestapo answer to the problem by the LSOS Ferguson Police department is to get a No-Fly-Zone established over the area to keep the prying eyes of the press out.
The criminal police are making up a story about what happened between the cop and the victim. Lies and more lies to justify the murder of a black kid by a thug with a badge.
They have also denied reporters access to the area claiming they need to provide a safe environment for law enforcement in the area.
They still refuse to give out the name of the cop who murdered the kid. You think we would be hearing whites ranting all over the news if a killer of a white kid got that kind of anonymity.
Since when are we more worried about the perpetrator’s protection of his identity than the right of the public to know. — Ans: When the perpetrator is white and the victim is an OTW.
August 13th, 2014 at 1:10 pm
Thank you Michelle, that was beautiful.
August 13th, 2014 at 6:54 pm
Beautiful tribute Moq!
August 14th, 2014 at 9:01 am
[…] Social Butterfly: I can’t believe that I never saw that Robin Williams flick. Thanks for the reminder. I’ll look forward to renting it. I found your other comment interesting as well. All I can say is that perhaps he was a different man many years ago when I met him. I really don’t know. I’m just grateful that I had the opportunity to spend some fun moments with him. :) […]
August 15th, 2014 at 6:23 pm
Two things in life we can never get enough of are love and laughter (and maybe chocolate). You never hear anyone say, “I’ve been laughing way too much lately.” Robin Williams was a force of nature, no one else like him. Spent hours in the days following his death watching comedy specials, TV appearances, USO performances (major kudos for that) and scenes from his movies. My face hurt from smiling afterwards. A sweet, sweet soul, with the energy of a comic tornado. But it’s hard to laugh when I think of his pain. So much mirth, yet so much darkness. If I had to think of an epitaph for Robin: “if they can’t take a joke, fuck ‘em!” But said with kindness…
August 16th, 2014 at 5:05 pm
A old friend just contacted me after 20-30 years I miss my old pal John Murphy we seemed to be together all our young years even though he went to St Hillary s and I went to Belair. He reminded me when Robin Williams slept over at my house after the 10 year grad. reunion in Tib. at the Corinthian and swore him to secrecy that he would not leak out info. to the other kids in the hood. My brother Tom was his friend I even snicked into the party to just try and get a glimpse of Robin that night, I remember when my mother brought me to Oliver the play that he was in at COM it was in Ross in that old play house, I will never forget that show I think we got to go 2 times and meet him back stage and he played Fegan so wonderful so real!.I remember another time he called my brother Tom and said he would be doing improve at the Holy City Zoo and told Tom to show and he brought me and I laughed so hard Bill Crystal was there helping his improve so hilarious! One time saw him jogging around Phoenix lake while I was trout fishing, but the coolest was when I was in PT. Richmond doing tile and Robin was in that Dr. feel good movie and I walked up to him and said hi while kids were holding out Mrs. Dought Fire videos for him to sign, I too felt compelled to have him sign some thing he remembered my name he called me Mattie WOW I was star struck for a long while!
August 16th, 2014 at 5:09 pm
Anne Lamott
August 12 at 9:09am ·
This will not be well written or contain any answers or be very charming. I won’t be able to proof read it It is about times like today when the abyss is visible and we cannot buy cute area rugs at IKEA to truck out the abyss. Our brother Robin fell into it yesterday. We are all staring at the abyss today.
I called my Jesuit friend the day after the shootings in Newtown, stunned, flat, fixated, scared to death: “Is there any meaning in the deaths of twenty 5 and 6 year old children?”
Tom said, “Not yet.”
And there is no meaning in Robin’s death, except as it sheds light on our common humanity, as his life did. But I’ve learned that there can be meaning without things making sense.
Here is what is true: a third of the people you adore and admire in the world and in your families have severe mental illness and/or addiction. I sure do. I have both. And you still love me. You help hold me up. I try to help hold you up. Half of the people I love most have both; and so do most of the artists who have changed and redeemed me, given me life. Most of us are still here, healing slowly and imperfectly. Some days are way too long.
And I hate that, I want to say. I would much prefer that God have a magic wand, and not just a raggedy love army of helpers. Mr. Roger’s mother told him when he was a boy, and a tragedy was unfolding that seemed to defy meaning, “Look to the helpers.” That is the secret of life, for Robin’s family, for you and me.
I knew that those children at Sandy Hook were caught in God’s loving maternal arms at the second each crossed over, and the teachers were, too. I believe the shooter was too, another child of God with severe mental illness, because God loves, period. But this is controversial.
I know Robin was caught too, in both the arms of God, and of his mother, Laurie.
I knew them both when I was coming up, in Tiburon. He lived three blocks away on Paradise drive. His family had money; ours didn’t. But we were in the same boat–scared, shy, with terrible self esteem and grandiosity. If you have a genetic predisposition towards mental problems and addiction, as Robin and I did, life here feels like you were just left off here one day, with no instruction manual, and no idea of what you were supposed to do; how to fit in; how to find a day’s relief from the anxiety, how to keep your beloved alive; how to stay one step ahead of abyss.
We all thought after Newtown that gun control legislation would be passed, but no–not one new law. We think in the aftermath of Robin’s death that there will be consciousness raising about mental health, but I doubt it. The shock and awe will pass, like it did after Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death. Unless…unless we take action. But what? I don’t have a clue. Well, here’s Glenn Close’s astonishing organization to raise awareness and diminish the stigma of mental illness, where you can give OR receive help: http://www.bringchange2mind.org. Go there, OK?
In Newtown, as in all barbarity and suffering, in Robin’s death, on Mount Sinjar, in the Ebola towns, the streets of India’s ghettos, and our own, we see Christ crucified. I don’t mean that in a nice, Christian-y way. I mean that in the most ultimate human and existential way. The temptation is to say, as cute little believers sometimes do, Oh it will all make sense someday. The thing is, it may not. We still sit with scared, dying people; we get the thirsty drinks of water.
This was at theologian Fred Buechner blog today: “It is absolutely crucial, therefore, to keep in constant touch with what is going on in your own life’s story and to pay close attention to what is going on in the stories of others’ lives. If God is present anywhere, it is in those stories that God is present. If God is not present in those stories, then they are scarcely worth telling.”
Live stories worth telling! Stop hitting the snooze button. Try not to squander your life on meaningless, multi-tasking bullshit. I would shake you and me but Robin is shaking us now.
Get help. I did. Be a resurrection story, in the wild non-denominational sense. I am.
If you need to stop drinking or drugging, I can tell you this: you will be surrounded by arms of love like you have never, not once, imagined. This help will be available twenty/seven. Can you imagine that in this dark scary screwed up world, that I can promise you this? That we will never be closed, if you need us?
Gravity yanks us down, even a man as stunning in every way as Robin. We need a lot of help getting back up. And even with our battered banged up tool boxes and aching backs, we can help others get up, even when for them to do so seems impossible or at least beyond imagining. Or if it can’t be done, we can sit with them on the ground, in the abyss, in solidarity. You know how I always say that laughter is carbonated holiness? Well, Robin was the
ultimate proof of that, and bubbles are spirit made visible.
Like
August 16th, 2014 at 5:12 pm
Matthew T Murray
August 14
A old friend just contacted me after 20-30 years I miss my old pal John Murphy we seemed to be together all our young years even though he went to St Hillary s and I went to Belair. He reminded me when Robin Williams slept over at my house after the 10 year grad. reunion in Tib. at the Corinthian and swore him to secrecy that he would not leak out info. to the other kids in the hood. My brother Tom was his friend I even snicked into the party to just try and get a glimpse of Robin that night, I remember when my mother brought me to Oliver the play that he was in at COM it was in Ross in that old play house, I will never forget that show I think we got to go 2 times and meet him back stage and he played Fegan so wonderful so real!.I remember another time he called my brother Tom and said he would be doing improve at the Holy City Zoo and told Tom to show and he brought me and I laughed so hard Bill Crystal was there helping his improve so hilarious! One time saw him jogging around Phoenix lake while I was trout fishing, but the coolest was when I was in PT. Richmond doing tile and Robin was in that Dr. feel good movie and I walked up to him and said hi while kids were holding out Mrs. Dought Fire videos for him to sign, I too felt compelled to have him sign some thing he remembered my name he called me Mattie WOW I was star struck for a long while!
Like
August 20th, 2014 at 9:01 am
[…] Paul Gilbert: Hi, so nice to see a comment from you here. Thanks for visiting. What sweet commentary you made toward Robin Williams – made me smile. I HOPE that you’ll stick around and continue reading and commenting. Big hugs to you and Wendi! […]