Good-bye, Robin Williams.

Sad news today. Robin Williams, famous for his roles as Mork from Ork, Popeye, and countless movie roles, died today.

He was a standup comedian before he landed the role of Mork on an episode of "Happy Days." This led to "Mork And Mindy," and a prolific movie career that included "Popeye," "The World According To Garp," "Good Morning, Vietnam," "Dead Poets Society," and "Mrs. Doubtfire." The latter was to have had a sequel.

He returned to network TV in "The Crazy Ones," which was recently cancelled. In animation, he voiced the animated Mork, and the Genie in Disney's "Aladdin."

RIP, Robin. You will be missed by those who adored you.

Just saw it on aol and am indeed shocked. My dad actually got a chance to meet him while on a business trip. I think he was coming out of a Broadway show. He said Mr. Williams was very nice.
His voice acting of the Genie in Aladdin was absolutely amazing.

This is a shock! What terrible news. I remember watching Mork and Mindy all the time as a kid. I think I had the suspenders at one point.

He was an excellent actor and will be missed.

Artytoons mentioned that Robin Williams provided the voice of Batty Coda in Fai Films' Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, which is true. However, my understanding is that Batty was originally scripted as so fearful and imploded that he couldn't interact much with the other characters. Remember Batty at the edge of the logging desolation, trembling with trepidation and wrapped in an ersatz cocoon of his own wings? That was to be Batty's demeanor most of the time. When Robin Williams read for the character, however, he put energy and bathos into Batty, making the bat into an unhinged, wildcard escapee that would work oodles better in the story. Thus, a lot of the character of Batty Coda can be attributed to Williams' improv, taking a marginal character and remaking him into a plotline nitro-boost character.

Now they say he hanged himself with a belt, and also slashed his wrists. Apparently, he'd had a severe case of depression, and was despondent enough to take his own life. Very tragic indeed.

There seems to be a sad inevitability to this. This happened after 20 years of sobriety and therapy. It would appear he could have taken his life at any time since he became famous, so in a grim way his endurance to age 63 was a gift to all of us. This reminds me of the suicide of actor/writer Spaulding Gray.