The role Robin Williams only played for the money: “I just can’t afford it anymore”
Acting is a scary profession to get into. After all, it’s an incredibly competitive field, and the number of actors auditioning for roles at any given time vastly outweighs the paying jobs that are available. In fact, in Hollywood, it’s estimated that the number of “working actors”—people who make a steady living from acting—is between 2% and 5% of those registered with the Screen Actors Guild.
With this in mind, it’s easier to see why even a screen icon like Robin Williams could have become nervous about his prospects at one point, and decided a steady paycheque was just what the doctor ordered.
Williams was one of Hollywood’s biggest comedy stars of the 1980s and ’90s, and he undoubtedly made a ton of money from projects like Mrs Doubtfire, Jumanji, and Aladdin. However, by the time the 2000s and 2010s rolled around, the late star’s film career was in transition. While he occasionally appeared in crowd-pleasing, if critically reviled, hits like RV, Night at the Museum, Old Dogs, and Happy Feet, the majority of his movie work had moved into the independent space.
During this period, Williams starred in challenging, unusual, and often dark movies like World’s Greatest Dad, Shrink, Boulevard, and The Angriest Man in Brooklyn. While these projects satisfied him creatively and he received strong reviews for his performances, they weren’t exactly great money-spinners. In fact, between those four movies, the box office totalled only slightly more than $1 million.
In addition to his movie career changing shape, which required some rethinking on his part, Williams’ personal life also changed quite a bit. In 2010, he divorced his second wife before marrying his third, Susan Schneider, in 2011, and moved to San Francisco, where he could be a fixture in his children’s lives. “My children give me a great sense of wonder,” he said. “Just to see them develop into these extraordinary human beings.”
Williams later admitted that his life had “downsized, in a good way” during this period. In 2013, he revealed that he was selling his ranch in Napa Valley because he simply couldn’t “afford it anymore”, and all these factors precipitated his decision to accept a kind of acting job he hadn’t considered since the ’70s: a return to network television.
Indeed, when the 62-year-old star signed up for the CBS sitcom The Crazy Ones alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar, many fans and industry insiders were surprised. He was frank about his reasons for his not-so-triumphant return to television when he spoke to Parade, though, saying, “The idea of having a steady job is appealing. I have two choices: go on the road doing stand-up, or do small, independent movies working almost for scale. The movies are good, but a lot of times, they don’t even have distribution. There are bills to pay.”
Williams also hinted that his divorces had hit him hard financially, and that was another motivating factor in seeking out a reliable, well-paid TV gig. When callously asked if he’d lost all his money thanks to the divorces, he mused, “Well, not all. Lost enough. Divorce is expensive. I used to joke they were going to call it ‘all the money,’ but they changed it to ‘alimony.’ It’s ripping your heart out through your wallet.”
Once again, though, he noted that he didn’t need to live the high life he once led anymore, and he was perfectly happy with downsizing. “Are things good with my exes? Yes,” he smiled. “But do I need that lifestyle? No.”
Ultimately, Williams’ money-motivated return to TV was short-lived, as The Crazy Ones was largely dismissed by fans and critics, before being cancelled after only one season. Tragically, he then passed away only three months later on August 11, 2014. Still, it was a stark reminder that money worries can affect us all, even Hollywood royalty.
