For an actor who won an Oscar back in his heyday, Robin Williams was unable to remember his lines in the last few days of his life, his new biography reveals.
Robin Williams was unable to remember his lines.
That was unusual, if not right out-of-the-blue, for an actor who had won an Oscar back in his heyday. The situation got so out of control that during the filming of ‘’Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb’’, he was crying.
“He was sobbing in my arms at the end of every day. It was horrible. Horrible,” makeup artist Cheri Minns recalled. “I said to his people, ‘I’m a makeup artist. I don’t have the capacity to deal with what’s happening to him.’ ”
And the reason for his bad health? A brain disorder which was not immediately diagnosed but which took away his vitality from him and ultimately led Williams to the Brink, after which he took his own life.
That’s according to Robin (Henry Holt & Co.), a new biography of Robin Williams written by Dave Itzkoff which will be out later this month. It reveals the heartbreaking details surrounding the final stages of his life.
Although William was already diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease – a diagnosis which still gave him 10-years to live, the behaviors which he showed in the last few days of his life were uncharacteristic of that disease, leading some of his close ones to blame alcohol or drugs for his incessant problems.
It was not until a neuropathologist saw Williams and diagnosed his disease – diffuse Lewy dementia – that William’s close ones came to know about the real source of his pain.
Lewy Body Dementia is the 2nd most common progressive dementia’s type after Alzheimer’s disease. It causes protein deposits in the brain to adversely affect memory, thinking, body movements, and emotions.
Robin William’s Fall from Grace
It was in February 1978 that Robin was unable to land a guest-role of Mork from Ork on the then hit-show, ‘’Happy Days’’. So popular did his act go that by the following year, in 1979, the show was attracting 60-million viewers per episode.
After his success on the silverscreen, big-screen stardom soon found Williams. An Academy Award nomination came his way in 1987 for his portrayal of the Vietnam’s Radio Hose in ‘’Good Morning, Vietnam’’.
Other super-hit roles followed, including 1989’s ‘’Dead Poets Society’’, 1997’s ‘’Good Will Hunting’’, and 1991’s ‘’The Fisher King’’. His role in ‘’Good Will Hunting’’ was so praised that Williams won an Oscar for it.
However, for an actor who could do no wrong in the 80s and the 90s, the start of the 21st century brought with it a number of mega-flops for Williams. At the same time, his long-time addiction with drugs and alcohol also reared its ugly head, so much so that he admitted himself into a rehab facility in 2006.
Ultimate, his struggles went out of hand and after the diagnosis of diffuse Lewy Dementia, William’s health forced him to take his own life.
