I heard some interesting conjecture last night. RW was in Hazeldon this summer being treated for severe depression, what are the chances that he was on psych meds? Or stopped taking them on his own? The come-down can be dangerous from those, people are never supposed to abruptly stop taking them because of danger of suicide.

Mind you, this is pure conjecture with no first-hand knowledge but illuminates another reason not to judge the poor guy. We have no idea what really happened in the last little while or what his true mental state might have been.

I also walked into my favorite diner alone for a bowl of turkey chili last night and ran into a friend who is comedian and film actor, wound up eating with him and another one in town from NY who knew and worked with RW. Almost everyone past a certain point in that profession knew him and has stories, etc. He was massively admired and liked. I did not know him and mostly listened, it was an interesting meal.

Damn shame, this whole thing.

My son is about to start 6th Grade, 11 1/2 yo now. 10 yr neuroblastoma survivor. This is him holding the Captain America shield made as a gift by the shop foreman at his grandmother's farm. Aluminum diamond plate pressed into a plow disc, rounds and star cut with a CNC plasma cutter and painted. It is sweet, but doesn't return when thrown.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1407944268.jpg

My further thoughts about the topic at hand:
Robin William's movies have been a favorite in our family. We will be re-watching RV, Aladdin, Jumanji, Mrs. Doubtfire, Flubber with the kids. Suicide is a horrible end to a treacherous pathway. The chronic and acute stresses and situations that bring one to suicide can not be understood by many. The public health situation is difficult. While many celebrities have died at their own hands few have the wide audience Mr. Williams has. His movies covered comedy to drama, G to R rated. So many see him as a compatriot. High schools have clusters of suicides - will there be a national cluster? Please be there for your family and friends.

Weird... Check this thread out!

Are people bracing themselves for the fact that Robin Williams will die soon? | IGN Boards

this thread title '?'

So far what we know is what MR Williams PUBLICIST says that he was battling"DEPRESSION." Exactly what does that generic term mean? We all get depressed at one time or another.

Mr Speeder does make a good point about the psychotropic drugs...it changes brain chemistry and eventually brain configuration. So any abrupt withdrawal for lack of a better term is a shock to the system.

Another thing to consider is that Mr Williams was close to Johnathon Winters who passed away in April 2013. That was a loss for Mr Williams of someone he was close to and more importantly someone that he could relate to on a personal level. That loss probably was a grievous loss which MR Williams was having difficulty working through.

Maybe it was that he could not turn the switch on anymore, maybe that preservation mechanism of his stream of conscious was no longer working for him. He could not bring himself or should one say lift himself to do it anymore. The sadness overwhelmed and it became what is the point of doing it. My friend is dead, and I feel left here all alone. The sadness was always behind the riffing...the riffing was a way of coping socially with pain and sadness.

The riffing was a social mechanism so that he would not have to show the loneliness, pain and sadness that he felt.

There was a good article in the LA Times today. Waning box office power, the cancellation of "Crazy Ones" and alimony payments seemed to help drive him to the brink.
Robin Williams' friends saw signs he was succumbing to depression - LA Times

Did you click on the link and see the date when the OP created the thread???

I can't imagine being one his ex-wives knowing those large divorce settlements were part of the reason for suicide...

Congratulations! Your grandson looks great. Handsome kid!
Childhood cancer is so tragic. My grandson passed away one year and four days ago of a rhabdoid tumor. We met a family in the hospital with an 18 month old with neuroblastoma and became good friends. Noah has had no signs of disease for 6 months and we are all holding our breath.

I'm curious if those that judged RW harshly have any different opinion now that it has been revealed that he was diagnosed with Parkinsons (in addition to depression/anxiety/etc).

With an eye to the previous post, sadly for me, R.W.'s passing might have been the culmination of all of these things in his life & may have become for him, the "perfect storm". All in all, still very sad.

I would never "judge" someone for doing what he did. In fact I decided a long time ago to let "judgement" leave my life.

But I feel justified at being pissed at him when he chose this outcome.

Do I have Parkinson's or Depression? NO, So I'm no position to understand either.

But understanding why someone would do something like this is extremely difficult if not impossible for the sane.

TO keep things in perspective, I didn't judge RW for checking out. That said, has the Parkinsons diagnosis been confirmed? I apologize for wondering if it really was there or just spin put out by the family to save his legacy. I'm not making accusations. Just wanting something more than a whisper campaign.

It came from his wife.

Susan Schneider said that Williams, 63, was struggling with depression, anxiety and the Parkinson’s diagnosis when he was found dead earlier this week.

Her love for him could cause her to have a vested interest in repairing his legacy.

:rolleyes:

Let it go. Sheesh.

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Possibly the best ad lib ever.

I have seen that one several times, and it's just as funny as the first time. I can watch him over and over again and it never gets old. He was a comic genius. I think he's probably my favorite comedian of all time.

Robin was one of the best ad lib comedians ever. Much of the show Mork And Mindy was him ad libbing. The studio had to hire several language experts to catch profanity in foreign languages and to be sure it was all safe for network TV.

LB is the second most common of the dementia types following Alzheimer's. Instead of a ten years slide it's a several year roller coaster nightmare until becoming a shell and then gone.
It morphs into a variety of symptoms which could possibly be from other distant causes such as vascular or nervous or hormones. Confusion, shakes, depression, paranoia, etc.

My dad got up middle of the night and wrapped himself around a pole to hold the house up. One of many incidences.
He swam competitive water polo much of his life and ended up using a cpap to breathe at night. Some masks did not seal or made noise keeping everyone awake.
REM is essential for health. Yet hospitals still wake up patients hourly when they are trying to sleep.

Drugs for other other diseases might even make Lewy Bodies worse.

Don't take the first doctor's final professional determination as absolute fact..
If it's not working, then something is still wrong.

This person decided to get off the ride earlier. Mr. Williams was not diagnosed properly until after death. The medical field is still learning but now there are better tests and experimental drugs.
Plaque in the brain cells. There is research into it.
There are also support groups, and practical advice options, for those close who dedicate most of their time caring for a loved one.


https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/01/health/lewy-body-dementia-robin-williams-life-itself-wellness/index.html
That disease is Lewy body dementia, with which the actor was diagnosed in October 2014 following an autopsy on his brain. “A few months before he passed, he was given a Parkinson’s (disease) diagnosis,”

Lewy body dementia has more than 40 symptoms that can randomly appear and disappear, Schneider Williams said. Categorically, the signs include impaired thinking, fluctuations in attention, problems with movement, visual hallucinations, sleep disorders, behavioral and mood issues, and changes in bodily functions such as the ability to control urinating.

(edited)

That applies to just about everybody I know.

he told me a hockey joke - when we had a coffee break. during the shooting of Jumanji.

"i went to a fight last night - and a hockey game broke out"

Strange,
According to a Robin Williams biography show I watched a while back,
Neither he or his kid's mothers wanted custody of them and they were were left to be raised by their nanny for most of their younger lives
with Robin popping in occasionally. Like a few times a year.
They reconciled when the kids got older but if the show was accurate, he was as far from father of the year as a person could get.

The show might have been Robin Williams: when the laughter stops.
Still to be verified.

This person died from Lewy Bodies.

I didn't get his rapid-fire jokes when I was younger because maybe the cathode tube tv speaker was turned down. Some Hollywood comedian. Whatever. Tangential. I still don't understand the Mork character he had to endure. It's not about that.

Dementia might soon be affecting all of those with parents still living. And then us.

I was just reading a article about his 1st appearance on Happy Days, Ronny Howard and Henry winkler were worried that they would have to cancel the upcoming episode, as Robin Williams hadn’t shown up to the rehearsals that week. But once Robin showed up and his skills of improvise completely blew everyone away and they felt like they were in the presence of greatness.

Once saw old Glen Campbell w/family at a local folk music festival.

Bam Bam Bam. He knocked out those tunes strong for an old man.

Then it came to talking about something...and thinking...and...someone thanked him and took over the mic.

There is a part in that Robin Williams "Retreat" video where he bows his head and seems to reflect on what he is seeing. It chokes me up, as here he is, not understanding what is going on, but he seems to understand that it is important and that the men and women he is with are so comfortable that they allow him in. That part strikes me as very intimate, they were that accepting of his presence.

I saw him on the tonight show with Jay Leno, and during commercials he had everybody in the building crying with laughter. I really miss him, I think the world was a bit better with him in it.

This Robin Williams Skit made the rounds during my first post in Iraq
 

This is the full version and NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK!!!

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I remember his appearance on Happy Days as Mork. The Fonz had to do battle with him using his magic thumb. I remember wondering who he was, as he was super funny. I was happy when he had a spin off series as Mork & Mindy. Unfortunately the writers just pushed the plot into stupid areas and killed the show.

Agreed

Yep, already past my parents experience and I am next on the conveyor belt. I am 62 and am starting to recognize some near term memory loss and misplacing things more often.

Robin Williams was a genius. Was difficult to process his passing.

He HAD to have been blown away by the devotion and discipline of the service members, They ALL stood and turned as ONE.