The “most influential actor” of all time, according to Robin Williams
While many actors come and go without making too much of a significant dent in the makeup of popular culture, there are some who manage to transcend their limits as entertainers to become something far more significant. One of these many actors who achieved such status was the late Robin Williams, who warmed the hearts of modern cinema with his hilarious and charming performances.
There aren’t many performers who are as able to make us laugh as they are cry. Some can do it with their ability to express the words on the page effectively, while others use their bodies to create hilarity and tense action. Williams, however, managed to do it all with the same smile and a change of his eyes. Few actors were as warm as him on screen.
Beginning his career on stage, Williams found the struggles of his early career a difficult landscape to navigate, stating in the book Seriously Funny, “It’s a brutal field, man. They burn out. It takes its toll”.
Describing the intense lifestyle, Williams added: “If you’re on the road, it’s even more brutal…The pressure kicks in. You become obsessed and then you lose that focus that you need”.
Thankfully, pushing through this hurdle of his career, Williams later found consistent success with the TV show Mork & Mindy. Like so many stars, the TV appearance would establish the comedian onto the Hollywood scene with an audible bang and with a role that delivered consistent laughs every week, the scene-stealing Williams was becoming a household name.
Suddenly becoming the industry’s hottest property, Williams was dragged towards the likes of the war drama Good Morning Vietnam, family comedy Mrs Doubtfire and the animated Disney classic Aladdin, with Williams becoming an iconic member of the Hollywood elite in the 1990s. It was during this period that he cemented his career.
A famous comedian, film star and impressionist, Williams became the jewel in Hollywood’s crown at the end of the century, representing all the optimism and promise that the industry hoped to carry with them into the 21st century. Armed with an intricate acting performance, Williams was not just an everyday funny man, he was a trained professional who simply allowed his idiosyncratic personality to flourish.
Discussing his own cinematic influences in a conversation with the American Film Institute (AFI), Robin Williams earmarked one particular classic comedian as his very favourite. “For me, the most influential actor in the film was Peter Sellers because of the Pink Panther but mainly because of Dr Strangelove,” Williams stated, marking the Stanley Kubrick classic anti-war film as the finest outing of Sellers’ glittering career.
Clarifying his love for the actor, Williams explained: “To see one person play that many characters and to play each one of them differently and each one so committed, especially Dr Strangelove himself,” were the most impressive aspects of Seller’s performance. Playing three different characters in the film, Dr Strangelove became a definitive role in the career of Peter Sellers, with the screenplay of Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern and Peter George helping to elevate his fantastic performance.
As well as being a fan of Peter Sellers, Williams also addresses his love for Kubrick’s anti-war classic, adding: “The fact that it’s all about the end of the world and that for me was amazing. It just struck me that comedy could be that, and hit that hard”.
It’s easy to see how the work of Sellers spoke directly to Williams. While he was a comedic actor and a dramatic performer at times, it was the ability of Sellers to switch between these roles and identities and deliver each one with a unified sense of talent that must’ve have appealed to the late star. The sad loss of the actor is one that shocked the world, thankfully, his life inspired it ,too.
