Obituaries

Beloved Actor and Comedian Robin Williams Has Died

The Oscar-winning stage and screen star was 63 years old.

Andy Lefkowitz Bethany Rickwald
Los Angeles New York City
Acclaimed actor and comedian Robin Williams died today.

Robin Williams, multitalented actor and comedian known for his work on television in Mork & Mindy and in film in Good Will Hunting, has died at the age of 63. Williams reportedly died in his home in Marin County, California, and appears to have committed suicide.

Williams was born in Chicago and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Woodacre, Marin County, California. He attended Claremont McKenna College and later transferred to Juilliard to study theater. His first large-scale professional success came in 1978, when he was cast in the role of Mork in the ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy.

Williams went on to great success in the film and television industry with notable projects including Dead Poets Society (1989), Hook (1991), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Jumanji (1995), and his Oscar-winning performance in Good Will Hunting (1997). Recently, Williams starred in the 2013-2014 CBS comedy The Crazy Ones and opposite Annette Bening in the film The Face of Love (2013). He had also agreed to reprise his role as Mrs. Doubtfire in an upcoming sequel to the comedy Mrs. Doubtfire directed by Chris Columbus.

Williams' stage career included a performance off-Broadway as Estragon in a 1988 Lincoln Center Theater revival of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. He made his Broadway debut in July 2002 in the comedy show Robin Williams: Live on Broadway and returned in July 2011 to star in Rajiv Joseph's play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Williams also famously voiced the role of the Genie in the 1992 Disney animated film Aladdin, which was adapted for the Broadway stage this past season.

In 1978, Williams married his first wife, Valerie Velardi, with whom he had one child, Zachary Pym. The couple divorced in 1988, and Williams married Marsha Garces in 1989. While together, Williams and Garces had two children, Zelda Rae and Cody Alan. In March 2008, Garces filed for divorce. Williams had no children with his third wife, Susan Schneider, whom he married in 2011.

Williams is survived by his wife and three children.