Williams' death is considered to be one of the saddest celebrity deaths, and on the occasion of his 71st birth anniversary on July 21, 2022, one can't help but feel his absence.
Robin Williams was one of the greatest actors the industry has witnessed. He portrayed any role with ease and also was a great human being in his real life. He's gifted his fans with a lot of memorable characters but his acceptance speech at the 1998 Oscars for Good Will Hunting, starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, is still considered one of the best.
According to Business Insider, the comedian was nominated three other times but this was the only time he won an Oscar. Williams competed against some of the best actors of all time in the Best Supporting Actor category that year—Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights), Greg Kinnear (As Good as It Gets), Anthony Hopkins (Amistad), Robert Forster (Jackie Brown) were also nominated.
When his name was announced, he got up from his seat, kissed his wife Susan Schneider, and embraced his co-stars. Once he got to the stage, he was visibly shaken, but he was also happy and blew kisses to the crowd.
"This might be the one time I'm speechless," he said, before proceeding to thank the Academy and showering the other nominees with praises. Then, after cracking a bunch of jokes, he thanked Schneider by saying that she "lights [his] soul on fire every morning."
He then paused and gazed at the ceiling, to thank his late father. "Most of all, I want to thank my father, up there, the man who when I said I wanted to be an actor, he said, 'Wonderful, just have a back-up profession like welding.'"
Willaims had a gift, he could make people laugh. But, unfortunately, on August 11, 2014, he died by suicide. During the days leading to his death, the actor felt he lost his ability to make others laugh, a talent that came so naturally to him. His body had given up and the actor struggled to deal with the changes it underwent. Unaware of the medical condition he suffered from, Williams cried out feeling helpless and lost.
However, it was only after his death that everyone including his colleagues, family, and fans came to know of his illness.
The actor's autopsy revealed that he suffered from Lewy body disease, "a degenerative condition that causes memory loss, dementia, hallucinations, and even affects movement," according to the Telegraph. Soon after his death, Schneider Williams wrote a personal account describing the struggle they went through as a couple due to the then mysterious illness.
Robin Williams is trending as having the saddest celebrity death. When he passed, I was 9 months pregnant. Went into false labor on and off for a week from how hard I wept.
— LT (Liz) Ward (@Ltward2) February 16, 2022
I never met him, yet losing him affected me intimately.
I still miss his heart. You always felt it.
"In Robin's case, on top of being a genius, he was a Julliard-trained actor. I will never know the true depth of his suffering, nor just how hard he was fighting. But from where I stood, I saw the bravest man in the world playing the hardest role of his life," she wrote, according to Neurology.org.
"For the first time, my own reasoning had no effect in helping my husband find the light through the tunnels of his fear. I felt his disbelief in the truths I was saying. My heart and my hope were shattered temporarily. We had reached a place we had never been before. My husband was trapped in the twisted architecture of his neurons and no matter what I did I could not pull him out," wrote Schneider.
"Powerless and frozen, I stood in the darkness of not knowing what was happening to my husband," wrote the widow.
Williams' death is considered to be one of the saddest celebrity deaths, and on the occasion of his 71st birth anniversary on July 21, 2022, one can't help but feel his absence.
References:
https://n.neurology.org/content/87/13/1308.full
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