Memories of Robin Williams (from sfgate.com, his local paper)

[steve2470]

-- Comedian Don Novello had known Williams since 1973, when "We both worked together at Intersection. ... We started doing stand-up at the same time. I started three months before him, so I gave him advice. But from the beginning he was just great. And he just never changed, he was the nicest person." Was there a sadness about him? "Sure, well, he was a comedian. He went through some stuff, divorce. I saw him working with those things. But he stayed just the same person, as kind and nice and caring as he was when he had no fame."

-- "I will never forget the day I met him and he stood on his head in my office chair and pretended to drink a glass of water using his finger like a straw," said a statement from Garry Marshall, who'd hired young Williams to appear in "Mork and Mindy." "The first season of 'Mork and Mindy' I knew immediately that a three-camera format would not be enough to capture Robin and his genius talent. So I hired a fourth camera operator and he just followed Robin. Only Robin. Looking back, four cameras weren't enough. I should have hired a fifth camera to follow him, too."

-- Bill Irwin, who appeared in New York with Williams in a 1988 production "Waiting for Godot," but much earlier had known him in San Francisco, wrote, "I was on stage with Robin only a few times in any kind of improv. And for only a few moments of that did I feel close to being a partner or an equal player. But the rest of the time, I knew Robin would carry me - he could carry anyone. If you tried to compete he could leave you in ribbons, but if you looked to him for help he could guide you through to a safe landing. He was a warrior, but a man of great generosity."

-- Designer Stanlee Gatti knew him "for quite some time. I guess people have to meet someone only once to know someone was unhappy. ... I always think we feel worse when someone dies when you know that person had hurt and grief in their life. ... People can look at someone like Robin Williams and say, my God, he was rich and famous... But this is the hard thing about comedians. He was brilliant, but he was not normal. He was really not and we loved him because he was not normal."

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Tales-of-Robin-Williams-5684076.php#photo-6713620

[deutsey]

1. I wasn't aware that Mort Sahl is still around

I'm happy to see that he is and that he and Williams were friends.