by Dave Itzkoff
Carvey, who had undergone multiple angioplasties: Mike Falcon, “Heart Operation No Laugh for Dana Carvey,” USA Today, November 5, 2001.
“He was extremely vulnerable that night”: Author interview with Dana Carvey.
“They said, ‘Okay, here’s the drill’”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
“He was really wobbly and getting scared”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.
“No, you shouldn’t come”: Author interview with Alex Mallick-Williams.
“called every cousin and relative in the city”: Author interview with McLaurin Smith-Williams.
a twenty-seven-year-old artist from New York: Jessica Flint, “Charlotte Filbert’s Colorful World,” Vanity Fair, July 2009.
Susan had met Robin in October 2007: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams,” London Times, November 28, 2015. Susan Williams did not respond to multiple interview requests for this book.
a lifelong Marin resident: Ryan Parker, Steven Zeitchik, and Lauren Raab, “Robin Williams Dies in Apparent Suicide; Actor, Comic Was 63,” Los Angeles Times, August 11, 2014.
a previous marriage that had ended in 2001: Marin County Superior Court, Case FL 011397.
a recovering alcoholic with twenty-three years’ sobriety: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
“I knew that they had met at AA”: Author interview with Zak Williams.
“They do have a cut-off”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
“They used to be restricted to late at night, when he knew I was up”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.
“That’s the weird thing after the heart surgery”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
CHAPTER 18. THE TIGER IN WINTER
Letterman’s time to return the favor: Late Show with David Letterman, May 12, 2009.
“shorthand between two survivors”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
“Comedy is life-affirming”: Author interview with Eric Idle.
“almost dying will give you a sense of gratitude”: Author interview with Bobcat Goldthwait.
“you realize you’ve been given a gift”: Author interview with Eric Idle.
“He’s always acted like we’re peers”: Author interview with Bobcat Goldthwait.
“I wanted to play it”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
“There’s no expectation for you to be a father figure”: Author interview with Zak Williams.
revisited all the cities he’d missed: RWC, box 12, folder 10.
“It would be insane not to talk about it”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
“From our intense conversations and experiences”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.
“I lob him softballs and then he makes them Robin”: Author interview with David Steinberg.
“‘You’re not reaching out to kids, the younger generation’”: Author interview with Cyndi McHale.
“How much more can you give?”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
Robin offered the first real window into his life: Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction, HBO, 2009.
“It’s like me … but not totally me”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
one bit clearly based on personal experience: Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction, HBO, 2009.
“Thank you for saving me”: RWC, box 13, folder 11.
“What’s your credibility?”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
“Our relationship started up again”: Author interview with Valerie Velardi.
“I’d be onstage and he’d be up in one of the boxes”: Author interview with Mark Maron.
“Even if you were trying out new stuff”: Author interview with Steven Pearl.
“I met Susan in the green room”: Author interview with Mark Pitta.
“She loved taking him to her yoga studio”: Author interview with Cyndi McHale.
“Robin wasn’t a guy that entertained”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.
“Marsha worked for him for a while”: Author interview with Wendy Asher.
enough Effexor “to cheer up a whole army of elephants”: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
“He was very modest about his career”: Author interview with McLaurin Smith-Williams.
“So that’s what I look like”: Rajiv Joseph, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2012).
“It just hit me hard, it was so powerful”: Author interview with Robin Williams.
“Before I hung up, he said, ‘Okay, boss’”: Author interview with Moisés Kaufman.
“a little bit like the pressures of mortality, or exactly like it”: Author interview with Robyn Goodman.
he proposed to her just before he left Tiburon: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
“Robin said to him, ‘Okay, thank you, boss’”: Author interview with Moisés Kaufman.
“He was always on top of it”: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
“‘How do you think it’s going tonight, boss?’”: Author interview with Arian Moayed.
a card saying they had symbolically adopted a tiger: RWC, box 12, folder 20.
“smart, savagely funny and visionary”: Charles Isherwood, “Ghostly Beast Burning Bright in Iraq,” New York Times, March 31, 2011.
“Lenny Bruce meets Friedrich Nietzsche”: David Rooney, “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” Hollywood Reporter, March 31, 2011.
“The title is so funky”: Author interview with Arian Moayed.
“audiences really don’t want to see them”: Author interview with Robyn Goodman.
“I was very uncomfortable”: Author interview with Arian Moayed.
“We wanted him to have an EGOT”: Author interview with Rajiv Joseph.
“The only beard here is on my face”: 65th Tony Awards, June 12, 2011.
“Please tell Robin not to be angry at Broadway”: Author interview with Robyn Goodman.
a slight, intermittent tremor in his left hand: Matthew D. Wood and Eric J. Huang, Surgical Pathology Report, October 20, 2014; and Susan Schneider Williams, “The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain,” Neurology, September 27, 2016.
a continuous video loop of birthday testimonials: Robin Williams sixtieth birthday video.
The outdoor wedding ceremony: Marla Lehner, “All About Robin Williams’s Wine Country Wedding,” People, October 26, 2011.
“Bobcat decided to get a fat stripper”: Author interview with Mark Pitta.
“He said he was particularly touched”: Ryan Parry and James Robertson, “‘No Glamor, No Glitz, but Great Joy’: Minister Who Married Robin Williams and Wife Susan,” Daily Mail, August 15, 2014.
“This white butterfly appears out of nowhere”: Author interview with Rick Overton.
“It was like high school”: Author interview with Mark Pitta.
“When people break up and someone has a new girlfriend”: Author interview with Peter Asher.
“we had not met too late in life”: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
CHAPTER 19. GONE
“He can retire right now”: Late Show with David Letterman, April 26, 2012.
both men meeting at the grave: Louie, “Barney/Never,” season 3, episode 6. August 2, 2012.
“I didn’t get a shot”: Late Show with David Letterman, November 8, 2012.
“There are bills to pay”: Rader, “Guess Who’s Back on TV.”
“like a bake-off for bulimics”: Late Show with David Letterman, April 26, 2012.
a gala ceremony at the Hammerstein Ballroom: The Comedy Awards, April 28, 2012 (broadcast May 6, 2012).
Winters … died of natural causes: William Grimes, “Jonathan Winters, Unpredictable Comic and Master of Improvisation, Dies at 87,” New York Times, April 12, 2013.
“before I take the ‘great escalator north’”: RWC, box 13, folder 6.
“His car had handicap plates”: Robin Will
iams, “A Madman, but Angelic.”
“especially egregious”: Steven Rea, “Daniels ‘Butler” Serves a Big Slice of American History,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 16, 2013.
The Crazy Ones, a new CBS comedy: CBS, “CBS Announces 2013–2014 Prime Time Schedule,” press release, May 15, 2013.
a steady salary of $165,000 an episode: John Kapetaneas, “The Business of Robin Williams, by the Numbers,” ABC News, August 12, 2014.
“It’s a regular job. Day to day”: Late Show with David Letterman, September 25, 2013.
“the kind of improvisation-style routines that made him famous in the 1970s”: Alessandra Stanley, “Children Examine Fathers, and They See Trouble,” New York Times, September 24, 2013.
“Williams seems exhausted. So is this show”: Mark A. Perigard, “No Triumphant Return; Fox, Williams Stumble in New Sitcoms,” Boston Herald, September 26, 2013.
watched by about 15.5 million people: TV by the Numbers, “Thursday Final Ratings,” September 27, 2013.
within a month, nearly half that audience had tuned out: TV by the Numbers, “Thursday Final Ratings,” November 8, 2013.
“We just hung out, watched him film”: Author interview with Steven Pearl.
“Marsha was very good at putting him in touch”: Author interview with Cyndi McHale.
“She made him happy”: Author interview with Rick Overton.
Zak and Alex would make lunch for Robin: Author interview with Alex Mallick-Williams.
“That’s when Robin just really needed him”: Ibid.
“They were very open and did love him very much”: Author interview with Zak Williams.
a series of physical ailments, varying in their severity: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
his anxiety levels seemed off the chart: Susan Schneider Williams, “The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain.”
“It was like this endless parade of symptoms”: Good Morning America, November 3, 2015.
“He wasn’t feeling well, but he didn’t let on to me all that was going on”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.
“The hottest, bragging-rights, Top Gun, black-belt version of stand-up”: Author interview with Rick Overton.
a paparazzo photographer with a video camera: Silver Screen PR, “Robin Williams and Rick Overton on Hollywood Blvd Talking About Comedy.”
“I saw the eyes dimming”: Author interview with Rick Overton.
“I did that show only because I wanted to see Robin”: Author interview with Pam Dawber.
Fewer than seven million people watched it: TV by the Numbers, “Thursday Final Ratings,” April 11, 2014.
its season finale was watched by barely five million people: TV by the Numbers, “Thursday Final Ratings,” April 18, 2014.
CBS canceled the show: Scott Collins, “CBS Cancels Robin Williams Comedy ‘The Crazy Ones,’” Los Angeles Times, May 10, 2014.
“I said to him, ‘How are you doing?’”: Author interview with Mark Pitta.
“I thought he knew it was bad”: Author interview with Cheri Minns.
“But it was like, ‘Robin, you’re sick! You’re sick!’”: Author interview with Pam Dawber.
“Robin, why don’t you go and do stand-up?”: Author interview with Cheri Minns.
“like a 747 airplane coming in with no landing gear”: Susan Schneider Williams, “The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain.”
some grave harm was going to befall Mort Sahl: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease: Susan Schneider Williams, “The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain.”
“‘We’re going to get this Parkinson’s managed’”: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
“His number comes up on my phone, and he says, ‘Hey, Bill’”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.
“I don’t think the people around him knew how to handle it”: Author interview with Cyndi McHale.
“Zak would never ask for time—Zak would never push”: Author interview with Alex Mallick-Williams.
“It was really difficult to see someone suffering so silently”: Author interview with Zak Williams.
Susan saw Robin’s condition continue to worsen: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
Robin tried many treatments to regain the upper hand: Susan Schneider Williams, “The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain.”
Robin started sleeping in a separate bedroom: Darrell Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report in the Matter of the Death of Robin McLaurin Williams,” Coroner Division—Marin County Sheriff’s Office, October 29, 2014.
“I don’t even know who they are”: Author interview with Zak Williams.
“I was out on the sidewalk”: Author interview with Dana Carvey.
“I was getting emails from him, and he was going downhill”: Clark Collis, “Monty Python Reunion: Eric Idle on His Late Friend Robin Williams,” Entertainment Weekly, November 11, 2014.
Dan Anderson Renewal Center in Center City: Cavan Sieczkowski, “Robin Williams Checks into Rehab for Continued Sobriety,” Huffington Post, July 1, 2014.
meditate, do yoga, and focus on further twelve-step work: Susan Schneider Williams, “The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain.”
“Robin was drinking when he went to rehab, and this wasn’t that”: Author interview with Wendy Asher.
“Somebody that’s that depressed, and on medication”: Author interview with Cyndi McHale.
“He always gave her a big hug and a kiss”: Author interview with Steven Pearl.
“I was on the phone with his managers’ assistant”: Author interview with Cyndi McHale.
Susan was taking a shower when she saw Robin: Kara Warner, “Robin Williams Heartbreaking Final Months,” People, November 6, 2015.
“I was scared, because it wasn’t my friend”: Author interview with Mark Pitta.
“I kept saying I’m really worried”: Author interview with Wendy Asher.
“To be clear, that was a joke”: Author interview with Zak Williams.
Robin and Susan were home together in Tiburon: Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report.”
Susan started getting ready for bed: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
Robin went in and out of their bedroom several times: Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report.”
“He seemed like he was doing better”: Warner, “Robin Williams Heartbreaking Final Months.”
She saw him leave the room at around ten thirty p.m.: Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report.”
the door to Robin’s bedroom was still closed: Ibid.
he was finally getting some needed rest: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
Rebecca and Dan came over to the house: Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report.”
Susan optimistically answered, “I think he’s getting better”: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
she left the house to run some errands: Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report.” In other interviews (e.g., Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams”), Susan has said she left to meet with a person she was sponsoring in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Robin still had not come out of his room: Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report.”
CHAPTER 20. EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY
Susan said good-bye to Robin: Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report.”
“I’m not mad at you”: Susan Williams, “Remembering Robin Williams.”
The 911 call had come in at 11:55 a.m.: Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report.”
Mirtazapine, an antidepressant, and Sinemet: Lee M. Blum, “Williams Robin M—Postmortem Toxicology,” August 12, 2014.
if Robin had ever discussed suicide with her: Harris, “Coroner Investigative Report.”
a news release from the Coroner Division: Keith Boyd, “Investigation into Death of Actor Robin Williams,” Marin County Sheriff’s Office Coroner Division, August 1
1, 2014.
“Robin Williams passed away this morning”: Mara Buxbaum and Susan Schneider, statements, August 11, 2014.
“Oh, man, did you hear about Robin?”: Author interview with Rick Overton.
Robin had been the victim of an Internet hoax: Peter Gicas, “Robin Williams Is Dead (or Not)—What Does Goldie Hawn Have to Do with It?” E! News, May 21, 2012.
“It just didn’t make any sense to me”: Author interview with David Letterman.
“It was just the most bizarre mixture”: Author interview with Jeff Bridges.
the ironic and uncomplimentary conclusion that Robin is not sufficiently appreciated: Family Guy, “Family Guy Viewer Mail #2,” May 20, 2012.
“I went to bed with that floating around in my head”: Author interview with Terry Gilliam.
“This is unusual and upsetting, but we got some news”: Conan, August 11, 2014.
Jimmy Fallon played footage from Robin’s first appearance: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, August 12, 2014.
“You start off as a kid seeing Robin Williams”: Bilge Ebiri, Twitter post, August 11, 2014.
“No words”: Billy Crystal, Twitter post, August 11, 2014.
“For that moment, there was no war in Iraq or Afghanistan”: Author interview with Billy Crystal.
seen online an estimated sixty-nine million times: Tim Gray, “Academy’s Robin Williams Tweet Criticized by Suicide Prevention Group,” Variety, August 13, 2014.
“I don’t count his death as a suicide”: Author interview with Steven Pearl.
“I don’t, to this day, believe he never intended to see his children again”: Author interview with Steven Haft.
“Seek to bring joy to the world as he sought”: Zak Williams, Zelda Williams, Cody Williams, and Marsha Garces Williams, statements, August 12, 2014.
Robin’s body had already been cremated: Michael Miller, “Robin Williams Laid to Rest, Ashes Scattered in San Francisco Bay,” People, August 21, 2014.
“Only a passing of state has occurred”: Zak Williams, remarks at Robin Williams memorial service, September 27, 2014.
“Robin spent so much of his life helping others”: Susan Schneider, statement, August 14, 2014.
Sara Bareilles sang a somber version of “Smile”: 66th Emmy Awards, August 25, 2014.