The 1981 co-star who changed Robin Williams’ life forever: “Made it possible”
More than just a comedian or comic actor, Robin Williams was a performer who broke down the barriers that had long confined the genre. He showed how humour could exist alongside drama and sadness, proving how essential emotional depth is to a great film. For a perfect example of that, look at Dead Poets Society.
When Williams played John Keating in the 1989 project, he was still funny and still recognisably Williams, even as he stepped into a real drama movie for the first time. But as he was nominated for ‘Best Actor’ at the Oscars for the role, it was for the way that those gags fuelled the emotion of the role.
When he eventually won ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for Good Will Hunting, the reason was the same as Williams proved that funny guys didn’t need to be kept separate from the rest of the movie world as they had been before.
Throughout his powerful career, he also proved that a good funny guy can do it all, so while he had projects full of physical comedy, like the fever dream chaos of Popeye or slapstick elements, like in Flubber, there were also films where it all came down to the jokes he could make simply with a silly accent like in Mrs Doubtfire, or when he voiced the Genie in Aladdin.
Williams had range across genres, styles and beyond, where he never let the stereotypical ideas of what comedy was limit him, or let the idea that he was a comedic actor hold him back from doing more, but in his eyes, that all came from the influence of one vital co-star and early hero.
During the fourth season of his breakthrough TV show, Mork & Mindy, the executives decided to bring in a big name. In a move that surely felt like a miracle to Williams, they brought in a man he would’ve called his ultimate idol, Jonathan Winters.
Winters had been one of the names who had first inspired Williams. His comedy never felt stale or slow; it was full of quick gags and spontaneity as Winters brought the very idea of improvisation to TV. When he joined Mork & Mindy, it empowered Williams to do the same, to do more and do it faster.
“He made it possible to do voices, character, sound effects and all these different things that just opened the world up. He was morphing before the technology,” Williams said of Winters’ entry to his life. It felt like a door opening as he added, “So, that was for me, like the beginning of just, like, ‘Wow’”.
The duo would only star together during the TV show’s final series when it was already in dramatic decline. But for that brief moment, the coming together was a special case of Williams being encouraged by his hero, and Winters getting a fresh boost from a new talent. It was the start of the former’s own bold and broad career, but it was also the start of a lifelong friendship between the two actors.
