Robin Williams: A Tragic End With A Potentially Great Legacy

An imperfect and deeply troubled man died Monday. He hanged himself around noon without leaving the clue of a note unless one is later found. He was a drug addict and alcoholic. He was an inveterate woman-chaser, cheated on his spouses, and argued with his bosses.

I prefer to think of Robin Williams in the context of this excerpt from the sweet parting statement of his current wife, Susan Schneider: “This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings.” Susan, we loved him as well. He just didn’t love himself. I want to add my voice to those of my Politicus colleagues and millions around the world, mourning the passing of the ageless Robin Williams. It seems odd to say he was “only 63” but even in his last days, he had the manic energy of the Road Runner. He also had enough acting and comedy awards to collapse any mantle.

Robin’s extraordinary turn in Dead Poets Society was perhaps the most moving cinema experience I’ve ever witnessed. Only the most feeling of men could tap into the deep emotional recesses of his soul to bring this kind of stirring performance to the screen. A rarity in his industry, Robin was equally at home with comedy or drama. I don’t need to reconstruct his entire talent CV here. Suffice to say, Julliard provided the first hint of his genius. He was one of their favorite and most talented students ever. Christopher Reeve was a classmate and life-long friend. The Mork and Mindy TV show was Robin’s 1978 springboard to international recognition and fame. His net worth was an estimated $130 million a couple of years ago. Last year, he put his mammoth home, along with 650 acres of vineyards up for sale for $35 million. He sounds mighty solvent, but some sources are hinting that he was forced to put up the house as settlements from previous marriages threatened bankruptcy.

Behavioral deficits aside, at his core, Williams was a caring, dedicated individual. He was always reaching outward, not inward. His friendship with Christopher Reeve most likely contributed years to Reeve’s life after the tragic 1995 riding accident that left the actor a paraplegic. Robin was a frequent visitor to the Chris and Dana Reeve household and always had funny and encouraging words to shore up Reeve’s psyche. Reeve survived nearly 10 years in the aftermath of horrific injuries. Fellow actors and actresses raved about working with Robin. He was supportive and sharing, an all-around good guy. A really good guy suffering from the really terrible problem of depression.

The “problem” will, hopefully, be Robin Williams’ greatest legacy. Robin, in life, could not be ignored. My fervent hope is he will not be ignored in death. In his death, he becomes an otherworldly spokesperson for the true cause of his passing: depression! A condition doubtlessly shared in the suicides and/or “accidental” ODs of the famous and near-famous from the entertainment world. The names include the recent additions of the brilliant actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Glee heartthrob, Cory Monteith, Heath Ledger, Mick Jagger’s girlfriend, the fashion designer, L’Wren Scott and Country comeback star, Mindy McCready. There’s the famed Rock trio of Cobain, Joplin and Hendrix: Cobain, who died in 1994 was a definite suicide. Many question whether Joplin and Hendrix fully intended to kill themselves, though both OD’d back in 1970 with great quantities of deadly drugs. All three were 27 at the time of their passings.

Old-timers will remember the gorgeous actress, Capucine. She jumped to her death from an 8th-floor window. More recently was the suicide of another stunning actress, 28-year-old Lucy Gordon from Spider-Man 3. Children of famous parents seem highly vulnerable. Among actors suffering the suicide loss of a son or daughter were Mary Tyler Moore, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward and Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson. Bing Crosby lost 2 sons, All in the Family’s Carroll O’Conner, James Arness from Gunsmoke, Gregory Peck and Marie Osmund also parented adult children who killed themselves. Famed early TV host Art Linkletter’s daughter, Diane, killed herself ironically (Art lived to nearly 100) and country legend Willie Nelson suffered through the death of his son many years ago. I could go on and on. How many fatal drug overdoses are accidental or intentional? John Belushi? Chris Farley? Ernest Hemingway represents numerous members of other creative arts who took their own lives. Granddaughter Margaux was also a suicide.

There’s an epidemic of suicides out there, roughly 40,000 a year, fully half by firearms. However, the number one cause of accidental deaths is overdosing. About 100 victims a day make up that number. No matter what other elements might be present in the tortured minds of those who finally act on their mental misery, depression has to be a constant in the vast majority of the cases. Suicide and ODs are the final expressions of the depth of that depression. And yet, unspeakably ignorant and uncaring (there are no other words) politicians and law enforcement administrators, continue to treat depression like the common cold. I suspect most doctors and more than a few psychologists and psychiatrists are not fully up to speed on depression and bipolar 1 and 11 treatment regimens. Nobody seems to have mastered the right balance of meds as yet.

Varied estimates put the mental illness rate among incarcerated prisoners in the neighborhood of 50%. The consequence of acting out involuntary depression or bipolar behaviors could be as much as a year in administrative segregation (solitary confinement). That’s downright medieval torture, especially considering the ‘victim’ should be nowhere near a penal institution in the first place. There must be a mental health accounting for each and every male and female prisoner in all of America’s state and federal prisons. We know this much; about half the inhabitants of these hellholes are there for non-violent crimes. Can you imagine getting a diagnosis of cancer from your doctor, who then locks you away in a solitary room for 23 hours a day?

It is imperative that we have the national will to change the entire system as it pertains to drugs. We’ve barely progressed from Nancy Reagan’s “Just say no,” a statement so lacking in feeling, intelligence, depth and thought, that it should have never escaped the White House grounds. But, especially on the right, that simplistic notion prevails. In a country that embarrassingly gives multiple billions, even trillions to its wealthy, most right-wing states are unwilling to finance even minimal interdiction into the drug culture, a culture that has to be costing us multiple billions a year in lost production and, yes, lives.

Robin: RIP in your own frenetic way! Knowing you, you’ll never go quietly into the night. You’ll figure out a way to use your legacy to bring this country out of the ether when it comes to reacting to and preventing drug overdoses and suicides. And, as you do, we’ll remember you with unending fondness through your old TV series’ and movies.

A final standing ‘O’ for the great Robin Williams.

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Dennis S

Raised rural & small town, then lived in N.Y., Chicago & LA. Widely traveled. Returned from world wandering to pursue media life of anchorman/reporter and major, medium and small market talk radio. Highly active in politics. Once worked as orderly & security in Mens Lock Ward for the Criminally Insane at a state institution. Much more rational population than current Teapublicans. Great concern for country run by and for the extreme wealthy. The inhumane current running through this country has no precedent in modern history.

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