comedian/actor during my lifetime. Robin Williams committed suicide shocking us all. As most of
know I have some personal experience with this as both my sister and then my father have taken
their own lives. It is a tragedy for anyone to take their life and seems to us as a society that this
act was especially egregious because of his talent and that millions loved him. I'm not going to
try to explain my beliefs on suicide or defend your belief but what I want to do is tell you what Robin
Williams meant to me.
Robin will always be T.S. Garp to me. If you'v never seen the movie "The World According to Garp"
then it's a must see movie in my opinion. Any movie with Glenn Close, Robin Williams, Mary Beth
Hurt and John Lithgow is a must see. Let me tell you that it wan't the movie that inspired me it was
Robin's amazing performance that inspired me. I'm a book snob, the books are always better than
the movies and I mean always. Except in the case of Garp. The book is written by John Irving and
won several awards. Despite this I could hardly stay interested in it. I tried, goodness I tried but
I just couldn't do it. For starters the book is about 6,000 pages long. No joke it's a long book. Two;
being from such a small town I couldn't really relate to the characters and the story lines in any
way. I finally gave up and went to see the movie. It was magical. Really and truly it was weird
it was funny and eye opening all at the same time. Robin gives his best performance in this movie
of all the movies he starred in during his life. However, here's the reason why I consider Robin to be
one of the greatest actors of our time.
He made the book come alive for me. After I saw the movie I immediately went back to read the
book and it was magical. Every line from Garp in the movie was Robin's voice. Now please
think about this, Robin made a book come alive for me. Not the movie, he was fantastic in the
movie but the book! It came alive in my hands and it still resides in a my bookcase to this day.
I will owe Robin for making me realize what an effect an actor can have on a person moving
his mind and heart with his performance. In the book John Irving ends it with "In the world
according to Garp we are all terminal cases". I prefer the movie ending. Garp is dying and his
wife is riding with him and then come his final words to his wife Helen:
T. S. Garp: Remember, Helen.
Helen Holm: What, my love?
T. S. Garp: Everything.
Helen Holm: Yes, my love.
Yes Robin we'll remember. We promise.
