Reading the biography of Robin Williams called Robin by Dave Itzkoff was very entertaining and eye-opening. I actually have the hardback copy of the book but I borrowed the audiobook from our local library and I am glad I did.
The narrator, Grzegorz Damięck, is a Polish actor who may be best known for Schindler’s List. What made the audio enjoyable were the narrator’s inflections of the voice of Robin and his friends, plus some of the voices Robin did in his stand-up routines.
I don’t particularly seek out more information about a celebrity other than what movies they may be in. It’s not important to me to know their personal life. But I do like biographies. That being said, there was a lot I did not know about Robin Williams. Although I knew he had committed suicide, the reason behind it wasn’t mere depression.
The book contains a lot of information that surprised me, from his affluent upbringing to who his close friends were. As each day I got deeper and deeper into the book, I pulled a few of his movies to watch each night. More on that later.
Robin’s real starting point to stardom came after Fonzie jumps over a shark on a 1977 episode of Happy Days. This stunt launched an entertainment idiom, as “jumping the shark” is now referred to as a gimmick desperately attempting to keep viewers. With the decline of the show’s ratings and writers seeking new material, Garry Marshal turned to his son which wanted an alien on the show.
Enter Mork from Ork. Although Robin Williams was not the first choice or the second, third, and so on, he got the role. And you know the rest. This put Robin on the path of stardom with his own show.
I would recommend the audiobook to everyone.
Trying to keep this short, my favorite movies are:
Good Morning, Vietnam
Dead Poets Society
The Birdcage
Good Will Hunting
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