Robin

by Dave Itzkoff

  “The actual pregnancy was beautiful”: Author interview with Valerie Velardi.

  he did not expect much sympathy: “Gator Growl Attracts a Crowd of 64,000,” Palm Beach Post, October 17, 1982.

  “It was the biggest crowd Robin had ever worked with”: Author interview with David Steinberg.

  the stand-up set he’d been refining since the spring: Showbiz Shorts (column), Fort Myers (FL) News-Press, October 12, 1982.

  a ninety-minute HBO special that would air the next year: An Evening with Robin Williams, March 11, 1983.

  The Survivors, a farcical comedy: The Survivors, directed by Michael Ritchie, 1983.

  Jack Nicholson and James Caan, who were replaced by Joe Bologna and Jerry Reed: Marilyn Beck, Producer’s Private Pilot Soars as Casting Director (column), (Phoenix) Arizona Republic, November 15, 1982.

  replaced by Walter Matthau: Marilyn Beck, Robin Williams May Not Survive “The Survivors” (column), Battle Creek (MI) Enquirer, January 10, 1983.

  the production showed up in rural Vermont: Susan Green, “Actors, Film Crew Find There’s No Stand-in for Snow,” Burlington (VT) Free Press, January 15, 1983.

  Matthau passed the chilly downtime: Richard Freedman, “‘Survivors’ Director Says America Loves Guns,” Newhouse News Service, July 15, 1983.

  “Now I know what it’s like to be a dog”: Kate Santich, “Shooting ‘Survivors’ at Tahoe,” Reno Gazette-Journal, February 7, 1983.

  one more TV appearance, on an HBO special: Robin Williams, The Comedy Store’s 11th Anniversary Show, HBO. The special was taped on April 8, 1983, and first broadcast on July 10.

  it sounded good and “kind of Welsh”: Author interview with Zak Williams.

  “It was like going through flight training and ending up in a glider”: Collins, “Robin Williams.”

  “suddenly there was a focus, a meaning, a continuity”: Robin Williams, eighteenth birthday book for Zak Williams. Provided by Zak Williams.

  the infant Zak dressed up in a baby-size tuxedo: Zachary Pym Williams birth announcement. Provided by Zak Williams.

  Robin and Valerie took him to New York: Marilyn Beck, Steve Martin Has Another Wild and Crazy Idea (column), Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, May 12, 1983.

  one episode of The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour: Fred Rothenberg, “Saturday Prime Time TV Getting Better,” Associated Press, February 12, 1982.

  the independent jazz label Commodore Records: Crystal, Still Foolin’ ’Em, p. 16.

  “I lost my dad young; he lost his dad younger”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.

  Crystal was in a dour mood: Author interview with Greg Phillips.

  “I was a Dr. Spock fan, and I remembered it”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.

  “Walter Matthau’s soulful deadpan”: Sheila Benson, “Matthau, Williams Get Jobbed,” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1983.

  “one of the most confused and repellent films of the year”: Gene Siskel, “Lack of Control Proves Fatal to ‘The Survivors,’” Chicago Tribune, June 22, 1983.

  The Survivors was crushed at the box office, too: Box Office Mojo, http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=survivors.htm.

  “I met rear admirals from Leningrad driving taxis”: Janet Maslin, At the Movies (column), New York Times, April 6, 1984.

  “They said I sounded Czech”: Luaine Lee, “Robin Williams: New Role Moves Actor Nearer Mainstream,” Knight-Ridder, April 20, 1984.

  “He’s really very modest”: Michael Blowen, “Robin Williams: Inventive Comic Actor Is Never Off,” Boston Globe, February 13, 1986.

  “He had never played a musical instrument”: Author interview with Greg Phillips.

  Robin and Mazursky went to see the documentary Unknown Chaplin: Author interview with Bennett Tramer.

  Robin said he felt compelled to make more “strange films”: Lee, “Robin Williams: New Role Moves Actor Nearer Mainstream.”

  “Eddie is ideal—he knows exactly what he does”: Collins, “Robin Williams.”

  “It’s Robin—have you seen Trading Places?”: Author interview with Bennett Tramer.

  Robin’s second comedy album: Robin Williams, Throbbing Python of Love, Casablanca Record and FilmWorks, 1983.

  “of the three major comedic talents who matured in the ’70s”: Lawrence Christon, “Robin Takes It Standing Up,” Los Angeles Times, May 1, 1983.

  It debuted at number 180 on the Billboard sales chart: Billboard 200 chart, April 2, 1983. Archived at http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1983-04-02.

  He and Murphy acted opposite each other: Saturday Night Live, season 9, episode 12, February 11, 1984.

  Eddie Murphy: Comedian, not Throbbing Python of Love: United Press International, “Grammy Award Winners,” Orlando Sentinel, March 1, 1984.

  Robin and his alter ego were “most engaging characters”: Vincent Canby, “Film: Paul Mazursky’s ‘Moscow on the Hudson,’” New York Times, April 6, 1984.

  “he has a real character to play, and he’s extraordinarily touching”: David Denby, “Okay by Me in America,” New York, April 16, 1984.

  the day that Zak took his first steps: Judy Klemesrud, “Robin Williams Dons an Émigré’s Guise,” New York Times, April 15, 1984.

  “Get off! You’ve done too much”: Saturday Night Live, season 9, episode 12, February 11, 1984.

  Marsha, who was in her late twenties: Lillian Ross, Reporting Always: Writings from The New Yorker (New York: Scribner, 2015), p. 30.

  “I interviewed her at a fish restaurant”: Author interview with Valerie Velardi.

  CHAPTER 9. TOUGH LOVE

  “Lust!” Robin Williams intoned: Robin Williams: An Evening at the Met, HBO, 1986.

  “then it just started again”: Author interview with Valerie Velardi.

  he caught the attention of Michelle Tish Carter: “Accusation Is No Laughing Matter,” Columbus (IN) Republic, October 8, 1988; David Hay, “Sleeping with the Enemy,” Melbourne (AU) Age, March 8, 1992; Frank Walker, “Actor in Herpes Test Case,” Sydney (AU) Morning Herald, March 15, 1992; “Robin Williams Settles Suit over Herpes,” Orlando Sentinel, July 30, 1992. Via a manager, Carter declined to speak to me for this book.

  “Very attractive women throw themselves at men”: Brad Darrach, “A Comic’s Crisis of the Heart,” People, February 22, 1988.

  filmed at the start of 1985 in Taft, California: Bruce Cook, “Kurt Russell Praises New Movie as Thought-Provoking, Suspenseful,” (Phoenix) Arizona Republic, March 8, 1985; and “Film Makes Kurt Russell Sing for His Supper,” (Phoenix) Arizona Republic, April 12, 1985.

  the film’s box-office receipts were abysmal: Box Office Mojo, http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bestoftimes.htm.

  “What’s happened to Robin Williams?”: “TV Dialogue,” Alexandria (IN) Times-Tribune, April 17, 1985.

  initially intended for Bill Murray: Dale Pollock, “On ‘Razor’s Edge’ After ‘Ghostbusters,’” Los Angeles Times, October 21, 1984.

  “He’s not as quirky as he was”: Bob Thomas, “Harold Ramis Is Sought for His Behind-The-Camera Work,” Associated Press, July 27, 1986.

  “Dear boy, go ahead”: Donald Chase, “Comics Find Improv Alive in ‘Club Paradise,’” Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1985.

  a Jamaican soldier who had performed in a parachute jump: William Wolf, “Fans, Critics Give 4 Films Thumbs Up,” Gannett News Service, June 30, 1985.

  Adolph Caesar died of a heart attack: Robert W. Stewart, “Adolph Caesar: Fatal Heart Attack Fells Actor on Set,” Los Angeles Times, March 7, 1986.

  “It should not be run again”: James Burrus, “Robin Williams’ New Movie Far from ‘Paradise,’” Chapel Hill (NC) Tar Heel, July 10, 1986.

  “a vacation during which everything goes wrong”: William Wolf, “‘Club Paradise’ Fizzles Like Bad Vacation,” Gannett News Service, July 10, 1986.

  “They waved a lot of money at me”: Hank Gallo, “A Lucky Seven? Robin Williams Rolls the Dice with ‘Good Morning Vietnam,’” New York Daily News
, December 20, 1987.

  “I got suckered into a couple films like that”: Zehme, “Robin Williams: The Rolling Stone Interview.”

  “God. It’s out there somewhere”: Collins, “Robin Williams.”

  At a press conference in Beverly Hills: Dennis McDougal, “Comic Relief Will Give Aid to Homeless in U.S.,” Los Angeles Times, January 15, 1986.

  “Basically, they were under contract”: Author interview with John Moffitt. John Moffitt was also Robin’s director for the brief run of The Richard Pryor Show. (See chapter 4.)

  their shenanigans had not been widely seen: A lone exception was Superstars of Comedy Salute the Improv, a Showtime special that had aired in 1985. Archived at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc1szJ7HcHA.

  at the Comedy Store in San Diego: Late Show with David Letterman, November 6, 2014.

  It had taken her nearly another decade to break through: Janet Coleman, “The Many Faces of Whoopi Goldberg,” Vanity Fair, July 1984; and Marshall Fine, “Whoopi’s Not Wild About Broadway,” Gannett News Service, March 3, 1985.

  “It’s hands across the street, boys and girls”: Associated Press, Names in the News (column), Santa Fe New Mexican, March 14, 1986.

  if homeless viewers would have their own opportunity to watch: McDougal, “Comic Relief Will Give Aid to Homeless in U.S.”

  a 1984 fund-raiser: Lawrence Christon, “‘Night of a Dozen Stars’ Falls Flat,” Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1984.

  where Robin and Whoopi Goldberg first reencountered each other: The Whoopi Goldberg Show, September 18, 1992.

  “You ever see people, like a family of eight”: Comic Relief: Backstage Pass, HBO, 1986. Archived at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWcqNXo-dSY.

  “the homeless men waited patiently”: Associated Press, “Comics Join Forces to Help Homeless,” Salem (OR) Statesman Journal, February 14, 1986.

  “Look, no jokes, you three”: Hilary Lewis, “Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg Share Robin Williams Stories at Opening of NYC SAG-AFTRA Foundation Center,” Hollywood Reporter, October 7, 2016.

  he was asked to cohost the Academy Awards: United Press International, “Robin Williams to Co-Host Oscars,” Nashville Tennessean, February 2, 1986.

  five days before the Comic Relief broadcast: 58th Academy Awards, ABC, March 24, 1986.

  The full script, encompassing ninety-five different comedy sketches: RWC, box 4, folders 7 and 8.

  a product called the Sony Poorman: Comic Relief: Backstage Pass, HBO, 1986.

  “They each made an entrance”: Author interview with John Moffitt.

  “We’d make these pretty interesting playbooks”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.

  the trio’s rotating character bits: Comic Relief, HBO, 1986.

  “We all started to cry. We knew we were doing something good”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.

  “We’re testing our abilities against each other”: Ibid.

  “a split-personality problem”: John J. O’Connor, “‘Comic Relief,’ Benefit for the Homeless, on HBO,” New York Times, March 31, 1986.

  nearly $2.5 million in donations: William Plummer, “Backstage at Comic Relief,” People, April 14, 1986.

  jobs for homeless people: Zelda Williams, Twitter post, November 12, 2017.

  “I wasn’t interested in being sucked dry”: Kornbluth, “Robin Williams’s Change of Life.”

  “A time when you didn’t want to stop”: Ansen, “Funny Man.”

  He had ended his extramarital relationship with Michelle Tish Carter … with considerable acrimony: Hay, “Sleeping with the Enemy.”

  that she had contracted herpes from him: “Starwatch: Marriage on the Ropes,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 8, 1988.

  “She’s tried to support me as much as possible”: Collins, “Robin Williams.”

  “I’m not a controlling person”: Author interview with Valerie Velardi.

  “Ultimately, things went astray”: Zehme, “Robin Williams: The Rolling Stone Interview.”

  “You suddenly have a malleable little creature”: Stu Schreiberg, “Robin Williams,” USA Weekend, January 24–26, 1986.

  “When you see Robin play with any child”: Ansen, “Funny Man.”

  “there’s a certain vehemence in my show”: Ibid.

  “Maybe that’s the next step”: Ibid.

  celebrity guests like Robert De Niro, Sean Penn: Tom Shales, “Williams Barrages Met with Laughs,” Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal, August 28, 1986.

  “There’ll be a minor change in the program tonight”: Robin Williams: An Evening at the Met, HBO, 1986.

  “I wasn’t too aware of it”: Author interview with Zak Williams.

  a “virtuoso comedy hour”: Andrew Sarris (no article title), Village Voice, November 4, 1986.

  “it’s still likely to be a night in comedy Mecca”: Shales, “Williams Barrages Met with Laughs.”

  “You can do it. You’re okay. I love you”: Kornbluth, “Robin Williams’s Change of Life.”

  a private agreement, handled out of court: Darrach, “A Comic’s Crisis of the Heart.”

  CHAPTER 10. GOOOOOOOOD MORNING

  a meager $1.6 million: Eric Pooley, “Geller: The Rain King,” New York, October 14, 1985.

  “You want to be proud?”: Seize the Day, directed by Fielder Cook, 1986.

  “you can’t get down any further”: Nancy Lipton, “Robin Williams Seizes the Play,” Dial Thirteen, May 1987.

  “a miscasting fiasco”: John J. O’Connor, “Robin Williams in ‘Seize the Day,’” New York Times, May 1, 1987.

  “You simply slip down the comedy food chain”: Zehme, “Robin Williams: The Rolling Stone Interview.”

  “this is nice, too, not being hot”: Jeff Strickler, “Robin Williams Rechannels His Childlike Energy,” Minneapolis Star and Tribune, February 2, 1986.

  “Saigon was still a sleepy little French colonial town”: Good Morning, Vietnam: Special Edition, DVD, Touchstone Home Entertainment, 2006.

  A later treatment by Cronauer, written as a TV movie: Associated Press, “‘Good Morning Vietnam’ Started as a Sitcom,” Asbury Park (NJ) Press, December 15, 1987; Jim Barthold, “The Real Life of Adrian Cronauer,” Urgent Communications, March 1, 2005; and William Kerns, “Cronauer, Inspiration for ‘Good Morning, Vietnam,’ Will Lecture,” Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, March 9, 2011.

  “I really can’t get hemmed into some story here”: Good Morning, Vietnam: Special Edition, DVD.

  At his first appearance, as he deplanes from a flight from Greece: Mitch Markowitz, Good Morning, Vietnam, 4th rev. draft (dated March 23, 1987). Archived at RWC, box 1, folder 7.

  “He looks like Judge Bork”: Zehme, “Robin Williams: The Rolling Stone Interview.”

  He and Robin also shared the services of Michael Ovitz: S. L. Price, “Much Ado About Nothing,” Vanity Fair, March 2012.

  “My intention was to play around with the radio”: Author interview with Barry Levinson.

  he and Levinson shot some test footage in Los Angeles: Good Morning, Vietnam: Special Edition, DVD.

  budgeted at just $14 million: Donald Chase, “Vietnam the Comedy,” New York Daily News, August 16, 1987.

  “Right then and there, it occurred to me that he’s going to be fine”: Author interview with Barry Levinson.

  run up to him on the streets and call him ling: Good Morning America, June 17, 1987.

  helpful advisories like “last half of this road is dirt”: Good Morning, Vietnam call sheet, June 14, 1987. Archived at RWC, box 12, folder 7.

  “They told us all these horror stories”: Chase, “Vietnam the Comedy.”

  a research file for him, comprised of photocopied pages: RWC, box 13, folder 21.

  Together they filled the pages of his notebooks: RWC, box 13, folder 21.

  “I wonder if we could just make it a little shorter’”: Author interview with Barry Levinson.

  In just a single take seated at the microphone: Good Morning, Vietnam: Special Edition, DVD.

  “H
e so wanted to please and for everything to work”: Author interview with Mark Johnson.

  “He’s doing all this free-form spontaneity”: Author interview with Barry Levinson.

  “Our crew was primarily British and a lot of Thai”: Author interview with Mark Johnson.

  “once you did it again, they had already heard it”: Author interview with Barry Levinson.

  Her mother was Finnish, the youngest of seven children: Ross, Reporting Always, p. 29; and “Funeral Notices,” Tucson (AZ) Citizen, March 15, 2002.

  “I grew up in a German community”: Ross, Reporting Always, p. 30.

  “my assistant, friend, confidant”: Gallo, “A Lucky Seven?”

  “I saw that he was funkier”: Zehme, “Robin Williams: The Rolling Stone Interview.”

  “There was this little man behind the curtain, going, ‘Take care of your mother and I love you and I’ve been very worried about certain things’”: Grobel, “Robin Williams: The Playboy Interview.”

  Rob, for the first time, told Robin of the challenges, disappointments, and failures he had faced in his own life: Hawkes, “The Transformation of Robin Williams.”

  “He gave me this depth that helps with acting and even with comedy, saying, ‘Fuck it. Do you believe in this?’”: Grobel, “Robin Williams: The Playboy Interview.”

  Rob Williams died in his sleep on October 18, 1987: United Press International, “Robert Fitzgerald Williams, the Father of Comedian Robin Williams,” October 19, 1987.

  “She was a little in shock, but she sounded happy in a certain way, if only because he went without pain”: Zehme, “Robin Williams: The Rolling Stone Interview.”

  McLaurin … who had changed his name from Smith to Smith-Williams as a Father’s Day gift to Rob: Author interview with McLaurin Smith-Williams.

  “I had poured the ashes out”: Zehme, “Robin Williams: The Rolling Stone Interview.”

  “Vietnam means soldiers fighting”: Chase, “Vietnam the Comedy.”

  a photo of Robin in an airman’s uniform: Advertisement, Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1987.

  “I think it’s going to be good”: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, December 18, 1987.

  “I don’t like that title”: Gallo, “A Lucky Seven?”