Robin McLaurim Williams (born July 21, 1952) is an Academy Award-winning American actor and comedian who has done television, stage, and film work.Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois. His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (September 10, 1906 - October 18, 1987) was a senior executive at Ford in charge of the Midwest area. His mother, Laura McLaurin Smith (1922-2001), was a former model from Jackson, Mississippi. Williams was raised in the Episcopal church (although his mother practiced Christian Science) and grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Marin County, California. While in California, Robin attended Redwood High School in Larkspur and grew up in the Marin County suburb of Tiburon. In Michigan, he attended Detroit Country Day School, an exclusive college-preparatory school which boasts other famous alumni, including Steve Ballmer from Microsoft and Courtney Vance from Law and Order: Criminal Intent. In an interview with Michael Parkinson, Williams stated that when he saw Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb he was immediately inspired to become an actor.
He has two half-siblings: McLaurin, on his mother's side, and the late Todd (deceased 8/14/07) on his father's side. Robin delivered tribute to his brother Todd (known as Dr. Toad) at Todd's Celebration of Life on August 25, 2007.
Robin has described himself as a quiet child whose first imitation was of his grandmother to his mom. He did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his high school drama department. In high school, he won an award for "Most Likely To Not Succeed".
Every year, two thousand students audition for twenty places in the freshman class at Juilliard. Only two or three are accepted into the Advanced Program. Williams and Christopher Reeve were the only students accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program in 1973. Reeve and Williams had several classes together in which they were the only two students. In their dialects class, Williams had no trouble mastering all dialects naturally, whereas Reeve was more meticulous about it. Williams' manic comedy did not impress all of his teachers, but his dramatic performances impressed everyone. Williams and Reeve developed a close friendship, and they remained good friends for the remainder of Reeve's life. Williams visited Reeve after the horseback riding accident that paralyzed him from the neck down and cheered him up by arriving as an eccentric Russian doctor (similar to his role in Nine Months). Williams claimed that he was there to perform a colonoscopy. Reeve stated that he laughed for the first time since the accident and knew that life was going to be okay.
His first marriage was to Valerie Velardi on June 4, 1978, with whom he has one child, Zachary Pym (Zak) (born April 11th, 1983). The marriage ended in 1988. On April 30, 1989, he married Marsha Garces. They have two children, Zelda Rae (born July 31, 1989) and Cody Alan (born November 25, 1991). Williams currently resides in a large house in the upper-income Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco. Incidentally, Williams is good friends with film director Chris Columbus who is also a San Francisco resident. He also has a summer house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Williams has starred in Columbus' films Mrs. Doubtfire, Nine Months, and Bicentennial Man.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Williams had a serious addiction to cocaine; he has since kicked the habit. One quote attributed to him: "Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you are making too much money." Williams was a close friend and frequent partier alongside John Belushi. Williams says the death of his friend and the birth of his son prompted him to quit drugs: "Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level. The grand jury helped too". (Inside the Actors Studio, Episode 94, Season 7).
On August 9, 2006, Williams entered himself into a rehabilitation center for alcoholism. His publicist has confirmed, saying "After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the well-being of his family. He asks that you respect his and his family's privacy during this time. He looks forward to returning to work this Fall to support his upcoming film releases."
