Robin Williams...

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Yep. Suicide off of a long bout with depression. Brilliant and very funny guy.

RIP Mork
 


He will always be the "Shiznit".
 
Devastating news. He brought so much happiness to the world.
 
Heard the terrible news... Very sad. Amazing person with a rare talent! He will be missed!
 
:(
 
Amazing how someone can be so funny and unhappy.
 
I am floored... :(

Not just a great comedian but also a very good actor. Did some very fine roles in several great movies. He will be missed...
 
Amazing how someone can be so funny and unhappy.
It's a way to mask it. People don't want others to know they're unhappy. Some dive into work cause they don't know what else to do. There's allot of pretending and denying. Depression is a groan of a thing.
 
Amazing how someone can be so funny and unhappy.
You'd be surprised how many comedians suffer the same issue.

I never really appreciated his stand-up comedy or monologues, but I really enjoyed his movies. Mrs. Doubtfire and The Birdcage are classics. I grew up watching Mork & Mindy.

One of my favorite quotes from him is something to the tune of, "it doesn't matter if it makes sense, if you say it fast they'll laugh. No one wants to think they're the only one left out of the joke."
 
my fav would have to be Good Morning Vietnam, OMFG he was sooo funny in that moving. from what i understand the "broadcasts" when he was filming were not scripted he just did them off the cuff.

a brilliant guy, shame his life ended the way it did
 
Him and Johnny Winters were good friends. I always imagined that if you could sit down and listen to the two of them together your head would explode in about ten minutes.
 
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Him and Johnny Winters were good friends. I always imagined that if you could sit down and listen to the two of them together your head would explode in about ten minutes.

They were great together.
 
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Ironic or foreshadowing?
 
There are so many stories of Robin spontaneously relieving another's misery. This one is from Christopher Reeves:

"When Christopher Reeve was in the hospital, awaiting a back surgery that had a fifty/fifty chance of killing him, a man burst into his room. He was wearing surgical scrubs, talking in a Russian accent, and said he was there to give a rectal exam. It was Robin Williams; the two men had been roommates together at Juilliard. Later Reeve said of his life-long friend:

“For the first time since the accident, I laughed. My old friend had helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay.”

That's sort of what Robin Williams did for all of us."
 
No disrespect for the veterans sir! I grew up with Robin Williams and so has the world! Please look at the statistics of the suicide hotline for yesterday and today. When a celebrity commits suicide it spikes the suicide hotline calls. it is marketing for the sources of assistance and extremely affective!
I wish we could all know the names of veterans as we knew Mork!
The mental illnesses that cause one to commit suicide and the addictions that accompany them are a critical concern for all. Currently the suicide rate is 180 people per day more die of suicide then homicide!
I was born in 69 so I grew up with children of Vietnam veterans. several of these children of these veterans(my friends) committed suicide.
I think its important that people that are celebrities or not share and discuss there losses especially with Suicide. Suicide is 3-4 times more likely with addictions. Veterans are more likely to have addictions based on a higher probability of mental illness based on their service to our country.
Suicide is something I do not tolerate based on my experiences and belief, but my experience with the surviving family and friends have led me to learn more and more about the issue so I can try to make sense why these incidents happen. I once thought suicide was cowardly, but I am leaning toward the fact that it is a symptom of a much larger issue and many where extremely strong individuals without coping skills.
Mental health issues are real veteran or not! We as a country need to embrace this epidemic and educate and fund mental health awareness and treatments.
I would like to know of the 180 per day how many of these deaths are veterans.
I have a friend who has carried his daughters(my friend) ashes for 17 years in his truck. This is how he copes with his loss and he now talks a little of his feelings with dear friends.
So we should celebrate lives of celebrities as we should for veterans and friends and family! With much discussion on the causes not the symptom.
Sorry for the length, but hits close to home.
Veterans and military keep us safe and celebrities and family make us laugh!
 
The point is well taken, but maybe the veterans issue is better for it's own thread? Depression is a serious illness, regardless of cause.
 
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Marlon Brando told Dick Cavett after he wondered how he would deal with a bad interview. “Automatic pilot. We all get by on it when the clouds roll in. Too bad they roll back in when the performance ends and you get back under the bed.”
 
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Some thoughts on suicide:

Suicide is "messy" because it leaves way too many unanswered questions for way too many people. Usually, everyone left behind wonders, "why?", "could I have done something to prevent it?". None of those questions will ever be answered. I know this because 2 of my very best friends took their own lives and the messages left on my answering machine still ring in my ears. I never had the option to respond and that realization haunts me every day of my life. But I've (I think) managed to reconcile it in the same way so many others have had to.

What is rarely expressed, is this: Each of us has a life and each of us has the option to end that life. It's messy and uncomfortable to think that someone may wish to end their life on their own terms and at their choosing! Life is a buffet, you guys! We walk past the offerings, partake of some (sometimes too much and too often and sometimes not nearly in adequate portions), eschew others because it's our choice. And the thing that is rarely ever spoken about suicide is that it's just an option. And probably the most deeply personal choice anyone can ever make. When we hear "suicide" we are programmed to think that it was the act of a stricken, "troubled" person, someone with no "other options". But never do we hear that it was, perhaps, a carefully considered option. I'm not quite sure why, but religion seems to factor greatly in the equation. I'm simply saying that suicide is very personal and for some it's an act of desperation/frustration but for others it's a comforting way to exit life without suffering loss of control coupled with pain and frustration. As a society, we need to "lose" the shame and embarrassment part of the suicide equation. It's an item on the a la carte menu, nothing more.

My grandfather hanged himself in 1929, shortly before The Crash. The stigma so affected my grandmother and was so shameful that the means of her husband's death was hidden for nearly 70 yrs.. Their son's name was changed to expunge his father's memory. And I watched my late aunt suffer the anguish when she finally found the documents outlining her father's death upon her move from the family apartment (1998-ish).

I preferred Robin Williams' dramatic roles to his comedy. "Moscow on the Hudson", "The World According to Garp", "Dead Poets Society", and "Good Will Hunting". But I will miss his bright, funny voice along with everyone else.
 
All very interesting thoughts, Bobbin. However, what I found most interesting is the mention of, "the family apartment," occupied more than 60 years. Had to check your location, thinking Europe...
 


We could do this forever :)
 
Rent control, Joful. Boston. My late aunt passed on several opportunities to purchase the building (brick 3 decker) they moved into in 1929/30. I don't think she had any idea how much real estate could appreciate upon the first opportunity; but I suspect existing tenants were guaranteed existing rents (as was she) when other opportunities to buy arose. My aunt was a very savvy woman. Maintenance and rent control prolly convinced her that ownership (with attendant responsibilities) was not a good choice for her. Earnings wane, maintenance income rarely rivals earnings unless you're very lucky/wealthy.

She was an amazing woman. Artistic (several accolades by independent guilds) and she earned her Bachelor's degree while in the employ of the university for whom she worked (one class every semester, baby!). She cared for my grandmother and the "spinster" aunts that supported my grandmother in the chaos/Depression that followed my grandfather's suicide. She lovingly returned the generosity her "spinster" aunts showed her mother because it was the right thing to do. She was a 50 yr. employee at her company and reaped all the benefits of loyal employment. Savvy to the end, she left her tidily reduced estate to my brother and me. Her attorney summed it up by saying, "I wish I had a secretary 1/8th. as capable.".

I never enter my beautiful shop without thinking of her hard work and careful stewardship. I'm proud that I was named for her.
 
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