Robin Williams was born on July 21st, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois. After finishing high school, he studied political science at Claremont McKenna College. He then transferred to Juilliard, where he studied theatre.

His big break came when he auditioned for the role of Mork, an alien that visited the cast of “Happy Days”. At the audition, he was asked to sit down. He sat on his head on the chair. The producers immediately chose him for the part because he was ‘the only alien who auditioned for the part.’

The character of Mork became very popular. In 1979, Williams was given his own show, “Mork & Mindy”. During the filming of the show, Williams would often deviate from the script, going into wild improvisational bursts. At first the producers tried to make him stick to the script, but they eventually gave up and wrote in sections where Williams could improvise. For his part, Williams won the 1979 Best TV Actor – Musical/Comedy Golden Globe.

Williams made several movies throughout the eighties. His first was Popeye. Despite Williams’ efforts, its unfunny script killed this supposed comedy. His later movies, such as The World According to Garp, Moscow on the Hudson, and his little known dramatic debut, Seize the Day, faired much better.

The movie that propelled Williams to major fame was Good Morning, Vietnam (1987). He played Adrian Cronauer, a wild radio disc jockey for the military in the mid-sixties. He was stationed to Vietnam shortly before things really went awry. He was a massive hit, but got on the wrong side of his uptight superior officers. As well, some the locals he became involved with turned out to be Viet Cong. The highlight of the movie was Cronauer’s radio broadcasts, which Williams improvised in his trademark fast-paced style. The movie was a major commercial and critical success. Williams was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, his first Oscar nomination.

Williams hit major success again in 1989 with Dead Poets Society. He played John Keating, an English teacher at an uptight upper-class school in the 1950’s. Unlike the other teachers, Keating taught his students (played by Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, and others) to think for themselves and to live life to its fullest. This brought him into conflict with his superiors. Director Peter Weir (The Truman Show, The Year of Living Dangerously) shot the film chronologically to emphasise the growing relationship between Keating and his students. The movie was a massive success and is now considered one of the greatest movies ever made.

Also very good was Awakenings (1990). The movie was based on a non-fiction book by Oliver Sacks, with the character of Dr. Malcolm Sayer based on himself. Williams played Sayer, a doctor in a 1969 Bronx hospital. There were several patients there that had been comatose for thirty years because of an encephalitis epidemic. Sayer managed to revive them with an experimental drug. The film focused on Sayer and Leonard (Robert DeNiro). Leonard was a patient who became comatose in his teens and now had to adjust to the changes in society. The movie was another major success.

A muddled script brought down Cadillac Man, the other movie of that year. Williams returned to his successful ways with Terry Gilliam-directed The Fisher King (1991). Jeff Bridges starred as a radio DJ who was fired after he unwittingly convinced a psycho to kill several restaurant patrons and himself. Three years later, he met an insane homeless man (Williams) who was on a quest for the Holy Grail. This movie was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Actor (Williams). Mercedes Ruehl won for Best Supporting Actress for her part as the DJ’s girlfriend.

Williams’ career took a blow with Hook. Steven Spielberg directed this tale of a grown-up Peter Pan (Williams) returning to Never-Never Land to rescue his children from Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman). The movie also featured Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell and Bob Hoskins as Smee. This movie was a major critical disappointment but was financially successful.

Apart from doing the voice of the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin (1992), William’s career continued to stumble with Toys and Being Human. In Toys, a militaristic uncle attempted to turn a toy factory into a weapons factory. Being Human chronicled five lives in five different eras. Williams played the central character in each. Neither had any success commercially or critically.

He redeemed himself somewhat with Mrs. Doubtfire. Williams played Daniel Hillard, who had just divorced his wife (Sally Field). To spend more time with his kids, Hillard disguised himself as Mrs. Doubtfire, an elderly English woman whom his wife hired as a nanny. The make-up job won an Oscar. Pierce Brosnan (Goldeneye) also starred as the wife’s new girlfriend.

Despite this one high point, Williams’ career continued on shaky ground with movies such as Nine Months and Jumanji. None of these movies were really worthy of his talents. Better was Birdcage. Williams played the gay father of a straight son. Problems are caused when the son is engaged to the daughter of a homophobic senator (Gene Hackman). The movie received better reviews than his previous flops and was a hit at the box office.

Williams didn’t really return to the top ranks of the great actors until 1997’s Good Will Hunting. Matt Damon starred as a janitor at MIT with a gift for math. He realised that his gifts could take him far beyond his blue-collar roots. Williams co-starred as the washed-up psychiatrist who assisted him. For his part, Williams won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, his first Oscar win.

Williams has four movies upcoming. In Jakob the Liar, Williams will play a Jewish café owner in Nazi-occupied Poland. After accidentally hearing a secret broadcast telling of Soviet advances, he keeps his community’s hopes up by telling them fictitious accounts of Allied victories. The film is currently in post-production.

In the Bicentennial Man, Williams will play an android built for menial housework. His owners soon discover that he has more human qualities. The movie, which is set over two centuries, shows him learning the intricacies of humanity while preventing his own destruction by his creators. This movie is currently in pre-production.

The Interpreter, which is scheduled for 2000, will be directed by Chris Columbus. Williams will play a normal man who gets a job as an interpreter despite being unable to speak foreign languages. That year, Williams should also appear in Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot. This is the story of John Callahan, who became a quadriplegic after a drunk driving accident. He becomes a cartoonist to make an outlet for his anger and emotions.

Despite having won only won Oscar, Williams is one of the greatest actors in the history of film. He has mastered both fast-paced, stream-of-consciousness humour (“Mork & Mindy”, Good Morning Vietnam) and serious dramatic acting (Dead Poet’s Society, Good Will Hunting). Despite many personal problems (a 1988 divorce and a battle with cocaine addiction), he has persevered and continued to make good movies. Although few of his recent movies can be classed with his classic, late-eighties-early-nineties period (Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poet’s Society, Awakenings, The Fisher King), he can still make movies that entertain and enlighten.