It’s strange when a media personality passes. In this social media time of everything being connected news travels fast. Part of me doesn’t want to believe that Robin Williams took his own life and passed on to Neverland, in the same way that social media reports Morgan Freeman’s death at least once a year. I’m still waiting for the official, “sorry folks, it was a mistake”.
I don’t remember him on Eight is Enough, or Happy Days, even though those shows were a part of my childhood. I do remember Mork and Mindy, and I know I had the action figures. Yeah that egg pod was a thing of beauty! It got tons of use in tons of my sandbox outings with Star Wars and G.I. Joe. Mork was like, Beyonder before there was Beyonder.
Popeye, The World According to Garp, Moscow on the Hudson, The Best of Times, Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poet’s Society are the films that stand out from my pre-teen and teenage days. I would come to appreciate Garp and Moscow on the Hudson as an adult, but Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poet’s Society hit me at the right time, angry teenage years. On Facebook this morning all my middle/highschool school classmates were quoting Dead Poet’s Society, bringing back a flood of memories and emotions.
Any time an actor that’s touched your heart has passed it’s sad. Robin Williams will be missed. But his films won’t be, his characters won’t be, they live on in our VHS collections, DVD’s, Blu Ray’s Netflix, DVR’s and other media that we keep them stored on. He won’t be any farther from us than the touch of a button.
Nanu Nanu