Robin McLaurin Williams was born on Saturday, July 21st, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator, Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (née Janin), was a former model from Mississippi, and his father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a Ford Motor Company executive from Indiana. Williams had English, German, French, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.
Robin briefly studied political science before enrolling at Juilliard School to study theatre. After leaving Juilliard, he performed in nightclubs where he was discovered for the role of "Mork, from Ork", in an episode of Happy Days - Les jours heureux (1974). The episode, Happy Days - Les jours heureux: My Favorite Orkan (1978), led to his famous spin-off weekly TV series, Mork & Mindy (1978). He made his feature starring debut playing the title role in Popeye (1980), directed by Robert Altman.
Williams' continuous comedies and wild comic talents involved a great deal of improvisation, following in the footsteps of his idol Jonathan Winters. Williams also proved to be an effective dramatic actor, receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Le cercle des poètes disparus (1989), and Fisher King - Le roi pêcheur (1991), before winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Will Hunting (1997).
During the 1990s, Williams became a beloved hero to children the world over for his roles in a string of hit family-oriented films, including Hook ou la revanche du Capitaine Crochet (1991), Les aventures de Zak et Crysta dans la forêt de FernGully (1992), Aladdin (1992), Madame Doubtfire (1993), Jumanji (1995), Flubber (1997), and L'homme bicentenaire (1999). He continued entertaining children and families into the 21st century with his work in Robots (2005), Happy Feet (2006), La nuit au musée (2006), La nuit au musée 2 (2009), Happy Feet 2 (2011), and La nuit au musée: Le secret des pharaons (2014). Other more adult-oriented films for which Williams received acclaim include Le monde selon Garp (1982), Moscou à New York (1984), L'éveil (1990), The Birdcage (1996), Insomnia (2002), Photo obsession (2002), World's Greatest Dad (2009), and Boulevard (2014).
On Monday, August 11th, 2014, Robin Williams was found dead at his home in Tiburon, California USA, the victim of an apparent suicide, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Department. A 911 call was received at 11:55 AM PDT, firefighters and paramedics arrived at his home at 12:00 PM PDT, and he was pronounced dead at 12:02 PM PDT.
