Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951 – August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Starting as a stand-up comedian in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the mid-1970’s….he is credited with leading San Francisco’s comedy renaissance. After rising to fame as Mork in the sitcom Mork & Mindy (1978–82), he went on to establish a career in both stand-up comedy and feature film acting. He was known for his improvisational skills.
Williams has credited other comedians with having influenced and inspired him….including Jonathan Winters, Peter Sellers, Nichols and May and Lenny Bruce. He attributed their influence to their ability to attract a more intellectual audience by using a higher level of wit. He also liked Jay Leno for his quickness in ad-libbing comedy routines…..and Sid Caesar, whose acts he felt were “precious.”Jonathan Winters became his “idol” early in life….especially after Williams first saw him on television at age 8…as he paid Winters homage in interviews throughout his career. Williams was inspired by Winters’s ingenuity, realizing, he said, “that anything is possible, that anything is funny. . . He gave me the idea that it can be free-form, that you can go in and out of things pretty easily.
