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Author Topic: RIP: Robin Williams Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 08-11-2014 06:18 PM                     Just saw news flash on TV that actor/comedian Robin Williams was found dead in his home in Tiburon, CA (just across the bay from here in SF)earlier today. Sheriff's dept is saying it appears to be suicide: Link To Full Story On August 11, 2014, at approximately 11:55 a.m, Marin County Communications received a 9-1-1 telephone call reporting a male adult had been located unconscious and not breathing inside his residence in unincorporated Tiburon, CA. The Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Tiburon Fire Department and Southern Marin Fire Protection District were dispatched to the incident with emergency personnel arriving on scene at 12:00 pm. The male subject, pronounced deceased at 12:02 pm has been identified as Robin McLaurin Williams, a 63-year-old resident of unincorporated Tiburon, CA. An investigation into the cause, manner, and circumstances of the death is currently underway by the Investigations and Coroner Division s of the Sheriff’s Office. Preliminary information developed during the investigation indicates Mr. Williams was last seen alive at his residence, where he resides with his wife, at approximately 10:00 pm on August 10, 2014. Mr. Williams was located this morning shortly before the 9-1-1 call was placed to Marin County Communications. At this time, the Sheriff’s Office Coroner Division suspects the death to be a suicide due to asphyxia, but a comprehensive investigation must be completed before a final determination is made. A forensic examination is currently scheduled for August 12, 2014 with subsequent toxicology testing to be conducted. (Lots more info in the "full story" link)  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 08-11-2014 06:27 PM                        Just heard about this maybe 20 minutes ago. Very sad to hear of this.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-11-2014 06:30 PM                        I didn't really go for his manic style of humor when he was on TV talk shows, but he sure was fast and clever. And a really good (and under-rated) dramatic actor too. Very sad. R.I.P.  |  IP: Logged Alan Plester Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: great yarmouth england Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-11-2014 06:48 PM                     just heard this on the midnight news while driving back from work, so, so, sorry to learn of his passing, will miss him greatly. R I P.  |  IP: Logged Connor Wilson Expert Film Handler Posts: 190 From: Sterling, VA, USA Registered: Jan 2011 posted 08-11-2014 06:51 PM                     Truly sad.  |  IP: Logged Lyle Romer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1400 From: Davie, FL, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 08-11-2014 07:46 PM                     I know I'm going to come off as an ass but I'm going to say this anyway. I don't really care when celebrities die. It is sad when anybody dies. Unless somebody is a friend or family it just doesn't matter to me. Especially in cases of celebrity drug overdoses or suicides. I'm not happy to hear the news but I am indifferent. If some person 2 neighborhoods over dies it is the same thing to me as Robin Williams.  |  IP: Logged Steve Matz Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 672 From: Billings, Montana, USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 08-11-2014 08:55 PM                     He did make some funny Movies though.I still watch "The Best of Times" with Kurt Russell on DVD every Blue Moon. It was one of his Funniest.I liked him in "One Hour Photo" where he resembles no comedian at all. He had Diverse Talent,but preferred to be Comedic.RIP!  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-11-2014 09:02 PM                        quote: Lyle Romer I know I'm going to come off as an ass but I'm going to say this anyway. I don't really care when celebrities die. It is sad when anybody dies. That's sort of the point. If a celebrity death from something that isn't well understood and affects a lot of other people as well leads to it being slightly better understood, then maybe the attention given to celebrity deaths isn't totally pointless. I can also understand people feeling personally affected by the death of public figure whose work or achievements they particularly admired. But I agree with you that it's weird and unhealthy when people react to the death of a celeb they never met as if it was the death of a family member of close friend. Why everyone went so overboard with Princess Di I'll never be able to get my head around (and after being subjected to that abysmal Elton John ditty umpteen times I started to suspect that there'd be a celebrity homicide pretty soon, too). The manager of the theater where I worked at the time was on the verge of putting a "Morbid f***ers keep out!" notice in the window on the day of the funeral, if only to discover if he'd become the first person since Lord Haw-Haw to be tried for treason... Depression and suicide appears to be a high risk among comedians, paradoxically. One example that sticks in my mind is Tony Hancock. As a kid I thought the re-runs of his TV shows were some of the funniest things I'd ever seen. I couldn't understand it when I was told that he eventually killed himself as the result of long-term depression.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-11-2014 10:01 PM                     Robin Williams' death is indeed news worthy, particularly here in a forum whose interest is centered on the movie industry. Williams was in a lot of qualified hit movies, both in terms of box office performance and critical acclaim. Now, I'm not sad over his death the way I would be if a close friend or relative died. However, I will miss his acting and comedic work. It's a shame his career has reached a sudden, tragic end. He entertained millions of Americans for nearly 40 years in both TV and movies, not to mention countless millions of people across the rest of the world. His work did have an impact on people's lives, whether those viewers knew Williams or not. I didn't personally know Robin Williams, but I did see him in person at a live taping of the Late Night With David Letterman show back in 1989 when it was still on NBC. Williams was promoting Dead Poets Society.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-11-2014 10:56 PM                        Gonna sound weird, but one of my favorite movies of his was "RV." He could take even mediocre material like that and make it funny. I think the biggest crowds we ever had for one of his movies were for "Mrs. Doubtfire." Lots of huge laughs in that movie. Comedies aren't funny like that anymore.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-11-2014 11:36 PM                     To learn that a person who gave me inspiration and strength to keep from committing suicide has, himself, committed suicide is pretty damned depressing.  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 08-12-2014 02:15 AM                     {quote]I know I'm going to come off as an ass but I'm going to say this anyway. I don't really care when celebrities die. It is sad when anybody dies. Unless somebody is a friend or family it just doesn't matter to me. Especially in cases of celebrity drug overdoses or suicides. I'm not happy to hear the news but I am indifferent. If some person 2 neighborhoods over dies it is the same thing to me as Robin Williams. [/quote] You're not indifferent enough to stop from commenting on his passing. I don't think I've been as upset about a celebrity passing before his time as much as I was when John Belushi died. Williams was the greatest comedic mind of his time, and his passing will leave a hole in the lives of many people, myself included.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 08-12-2014 02:24 AM                     Very sad to hear. I never cared for his spastic humor like in Good Morning Vietnam, but he really was a darn good actor capable of a wide range of genres. Just watch One Hour Photo or Insomnia. quote: Bobby Henderson I didn't personally know Robin Williams, but I did see him in person at a live taping of the Late Night With David Letterman show back in 1989 when it was still on NBC. Williams was promoting Dead Poets Society. I remember that show. They "didn't have a clip to show", so instead they took a camera across the street to the movie theater where it was showing to videotape their own clip live. Of course it was magnificently timed such that when they went to the clip the auditorium door opened and the end credits had just started scrolling up from the bottom of the screen as the house lights were rising. I wonder if that was Letterman's crew or Robin Williams' idea.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 08-12-2014 03:05 AM                        I understand Lyle's point of view, but I disagree with him. As others have said, an actor like Williams has created characters that mean something to people. Maybe his funny movies were simply catharsis in a troubled time. Maybe his serious roles helped people better understand themselves. Regardless, I think it's fine to feel sad over the loss of someone who had an impact on your life - even if it was just on a movie or television screen. That being said, I think there is a huge difference between how people have thus far reacted to Robin Williams, and the way people reacted to Michael Jackson or Princess Dianna. It's kind of the difference between admiration and obsession.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-12-2014 09:59 AM                        Agreed. No matter how you cut this, Robin Williams death is sad; suicide makes it even sadder, to think how much pain anyone must be in who ends that way. I certainly can understand when people feel a personal connection with celebs, it happens with all of us, if it didn't, we wouldn't listen to their music or watch the movies they create or laugh at their jokes. Their talent and art has in some way connected with us. When they are gone, we feel that connection being broken. It certainly isn't the same kind of loss as that of a loved one, but a loss nonetheless. Depending on how personally their work touched us will determine the extent of the emotion. I always found Robin William's humor to be near genius. How his brain could invent humor in near machine-gun speed, very much like Jonathan Winters, who also was plagued with depression. It's seems like that kind of genius dances dangerously around the line between mental health and mental illness. For all his talent, in my mind he was most on his game when he was mercilessly skewering social maladies which he did very often -- homophobia (especially), religious hypocrisy, racial bigotry. Perhaps the best way to combat those social ills is to mock them, and this he did brilliantly. His loss is sad indeed.  |  IP: Logged

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