Robin McLaurim Williams born July 21, 1951 is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has also won two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Grammy Awards.
Contents
* 1 Early life
* 2 Television career
* 3 Cinema career
o 3.1 Disputes with Disney
* 4 Stand-up career
o 4.1 Accusations of plagiarism
* 5 Theatre career
* 6 Personal life
o 6.1 Other interests
o 6.2 Charity work
* 7 Filmography
* 8 Discography
* 9 References
* 10 Bibliography
* 11 External links
Early life
Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Laura (née Smith, 1922–2001), was a former model from New Orleans, Louisiana. His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (September 10, 1906 – October 18, 1987), was a senior executive at Ford Motorship in charge of the Midwest area. Williams is of English, Welsh, and Irish descent on his father's side, and of French descent on his mother's side. He was raised in the Episcopal Church, though his mother practiced Christian Science. He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he was a student at the Detroit Country Day School, and Woodacre, Marin County, California, where he attended the public Redwood High School. Williams also attended Claremont McKenna College (then called Claremont Men's College) for four years. He has two half-brothers: Todd (who died August 14, 2007) and McLaurin.
Williams has described himself as a quiet child whose first imitation was of his grandmother to his mother. He did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his high-school drama department.
In 1973, Williams was one of only 20 students accepted into the freshman class at the Juilliard School, and one of only two students to be accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program at the school that year, the other being Christopher Reeve. In his dialects class, Williams had no trouble mastering all dialects quickly. Williams left Juilliard in 1976.
Television career
After appearing in the cast of the short-lived The Richard Pryor Show on NBC, Williams was cast by Garry Marshall as the alien Mork in the hit TV series Happy Days. As Mork, Williams improvised much of his dialogue and physical comedy, speaking in a high, nasal voice. Mork's appearance was so popular with viewers that it led to a spin-off hit television sitcom, Mork and Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982 which was written to accommodate Williams' improvisations. Although playing the same character as in his appearance in Happy Days, the show was set in the present day, in Boulder, Colorado, instead of the late '50s in Milwaukee. Mork was an extremely popular character, featured on posters, coloring books, lunchboxes, and other merchandise.
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