Robin Williams: Background, Children, Death, and Net Worth of the American Actor and Comedian!
The phrase “exceptionally gifted” is reserved for people with a rare talent in a particular art or field. The late Robin Williams, a household name in the American entertainment industry is arguably one of the “exceptionally gifted” individuals to have graced the entertainment industry.
Robin Williams’ exquisite acting skills, his rich use of humor, and his dexterity with the use of the English language made him not just the favorite of many fans but also attracted a handful of celebrities within and without the entertainment industry to him.
Two of Robin Williams’ most noticeable traits are his improvisation skills as well as how he effortlessly switches characters within a snap of a finger while acting or performing in a drama or stand-up comedy.
To date, he is regarded as one of the greatest comedians to have come out of the US and his works outside of the industry continue to outlive him. Robin Williams didn’t just make people laugh and cry, he also impacted lives as he contributed to more than a handful of charities before his death.
If you have read up to this point, you won’t be wrong if you conclude that Robin Williams must have had a successful career. Indeed, his career was largely successful. However, challenges like leeches perched on Robin Williams’ life for quite a long time leading to his death in 2014.
This piece takes a handful of the many facets of Robin Williams’ life: background, career, family, achievements, divorce, death, and net worth.
Background and Education of Robin Williams
Robin Williams was born to Robert Fitzgerald and Laurie McLaurin on the 21st of July 1951 at St Luke’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. His father was one of the senior executives at Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury Division while his mother was a former model from Jackson, Mississippi. He had two elder brothers: a paternal half-brother, Robert, also known as Todd, and a maternal half-brother, McLaurin.
He began his education at Gorton Elementary School before proceeding to Deer Path Junior High School. He admitted he was a very shy student and he didn’t trade his shyness for boldness until he joined the school’s drama department.
Robin Williams attended a couple of high schools before going to college as his father was transferred to Detroit before he took early retirement and moved to California. He was described by his friends as very funny and he was voted “Most Likely Not to Succeed” and “Funniest” by his peers at Redwood High School before graduating in 1969.
Upon graduation, he enrolled at Claremont Men’s College at Claremont, California to pursue a degree in Political Science but he dropped out shortly after to follow his passion which was comedy and acting.
He later enrolled at the College of Marin, Kentfield, California where he studied theatre for three years. He got a scholarship to study at Juilliard School in 1973. He was among twenty students accepted into the school but only he and Christopher Reeve were the only two students accepted by John Houseman into the school’s Advanced Programme then
Career
Robin Williams once told Inside the Actors Studio that his mother played a role in his comedy career as he always makes her laugh at home in other to get her attention.
His talent started gaining attention while he was still in school. His Professor of Drama, James Dunn saw Williams’s future and he told his wife after a late-night rehearsal that Williams “was going to be something special.” This was after Williams acted as Fagin in the musical drama, “Oliver.”
He began his Stand Up Comedy career in 1976 in San Francisco and he gave his first performance in a comedy club known as a Holy City Zoo. He performed in other places and made an appearance on George Schlatter’s show Laugh-in in 1977 in an attempt to revive the show.
Even though he received criticisms in his work, Robin Williams never slowed down his progress, and with the success of “Mork and Mindy”, his popularity grew and his works became more acceptable such that he won a Grammy Award for the Best Comedy Album in 1979 for his live show, “Reality….What a Concept” which was held at Copacabana, New York.
He admitted that he started using drugs and delved into alcohol early in his life because of the stress of his live performances. He described the life of Stand Up comedians as destructive.
“It’s a brutal field, man. They burn out. It takes its toll. Plus, the lifestyle—partying, drinking, drugs. If you’re on the road, it’s even more brutal. You gotta come back down to mellow your ass out, and then performing takes you back up. They flame out because it comes and goes. Suddenly they’re hot, and then somebody else is hot. Sometimes they get very bitter. Sometimes they just give up. Sometimes they have a revival thing and they come back again. Sometimes they snap. The pressure kicks in. You become obsessed and then you lose that focus that you need.”
His Stand Up Comedy career blossomed as well as his tons of movie appearances, film making from which he made tons of money.
Marriage and Children
Despite his successful career, Robin Williams had a difficult time dealing with his marriages. Before he got married to his third wife, Susan Schneider, a graphic designer in 2011, he had been involved in two marriages that ended up in divorces.
He married Valerie Velardi with whom he had a son Zachary Pym. However, they broke up in 1988. He went on to marry Marsha Garces and they had two children: Zelda Rae Williams and Cody Alan Williams but the duo divorced in 2010.
“Robin Williams didn’t allow his children suffer because of his divorces, he revealed how much they meant to him.”
Williams and Susan’s wedding took place at St Helena, California, and they both lived at their house in Sea Cliff, San Francisco, California.
Robin Williams Death
Robin Williams died on the 11th of August, 2014 at his residence in Paradise Cay, California. An autopsy revealed that he died as a result of asphyxia due to hanging. Although the comedian has been exposed to the use of drugs, cocaine, and alcohol for a while neither of these led to his death.
He was hospitalized due to a heart problem in 2009 which made him postpone a tour around the period. He later underwent surgery to replace his repair his mitral valve, and rectify his unstable heartbeat. The surgery was done at Cleveland Clinic.
There were reports that he also suffered from depression before his death. Although, his wife confirmed that it didn’t die because of that.
Williams’ body was cremated and his ashes were spread across San Francisco bay.
Tributes, like rainfall, poured in after his death, and former President of the United States, Barack Obama sent in his:
“Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between … He arrived in our lives as an alien—but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most—from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our streets.”
Robin Williams Net Worth
Robin Williams’s decades of creative outputs raked in about $5.1bn. However, according to Celebrity’s net worth, he was only worth $50m when he died.
He earned $75,000 for the voice of the Genie in “Aladdin” in 1992, he earned $500,000 for his role in “Popeye.” He also earned $20m for his role in “Bicentennial Man.”
Robin Williams’s net worth continued to soar high as he earned money from his television appearances. He received $3 million for playing the role of an alien in “Mork and Mindy.”
He earned an average of $165,000 per episode from his show, “The Crazy Ones”
Before his death, Williams spent about $30m in settling divorces with the mother of his children: Valerie Velardi and Marsha Garces according to Celebrity net worth
One thing is certain, Robin Williams is dead but his legacy on and off the stage lives on and his children can be proud to partner of having a father who continues to inspires generations of talent in the industry.
