MORK CALLING ORSON

[terryfromkerry]

So sad , Robin Williams is dead. Just watching this tragic news breaking here. One of a kind ......... we will miss you with terrific and hilarious memories.

[308GUY]

Hard to believe.

R.I.P.

[KENJI]

Last month I heard he was going back into rehab just to stay focused on staying sober ( http://www.people.com/article/robin-wil ... b-sobriety ) and then I hear about his death today-very sad! I also heard that he struggled with depression which might've played a part in what happened today. Hard to believe that he is gone! R.I.P. Robin.

[Little Garwood]

I haven't exactly been having the best week of my life and I was gutted to learn of this news.

While I am certainly old enough to remember Robin Williams as "Mork", to those of us of a certain age group, Robin Williams impressed us in a profound way when he reinvented himself as a dramatic actor, and he excelled beyond anyone's expectations who knew of him as a stand-up and comedic actor. I choose to remember him as Professor John Keating in the movie, Dead Poets Society ("Oh captain, my captain")

Earlier this week I was thinking of that beautiful piece of music which ends the film and of course now it is especially poignant:

"Keating's Triumph"

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

I agree Robin Williams was a big talent but he took every facet of his comic personna/act from the great Jonathon Winters. He was the first to admit it too.
Improv and acting classes showcase a now legendary segment of the old Andy Williams Show that had run short when a guest didnt show up, wherein Andy Williams for 20 minutes handed objects lying around the set to Winters, who using them put on a display for the ages of comic genius that Johnny Carson claimed no one has equaled.
Everyone has forgotten Winters but the guy who basically was imitating(brilliantly though) him is getting all the glory.
I hope I am not coming off as a sorehead with no sympathy for William's death, it's just its Winters who created the mold.

[Little Garwood]

I agree Robin Williams was a big talent but he took every facet of his comic personna/act from the great Jonathon Winters. He was the first to admit it too.

Everyone has forgotten Winters but the guy who basically was imitating(brilliantly though) him is getting all the glory.

I hope I am not coming off as a sorehead with no sympathy for William's death, it's just its Winters who created the mold.

Sheesh. First the James Garner thread and now Robin Williams. Magnum-Mania is a great forum, but not because of its warm remembrance of late entertainers.

[Higgins (aka Bondtoys)]

heartbreaking scene on yesterday's German news:
As a tribute to "Dead Poet's society", newslady Carmen Miosga found her own way to say goodbye to her "Captain":

[Doc Ibold]

I agree Robin Williams was a big talent but he took every facet of his comic personna/act from the great Jonathon Winters. He was the first to admit it too.
Improv and acting classes showcase a now legendary segment of the old Andy Williams Show that had run short when a guest didnt show up, wherein Andy Williams for 20 minutes handed objects lying around the set to Winters, who using them put on a display for the ages of comic genius that Johnny Carson claimed no one has equaled.
Everyone has forgotten Winters but the guy who basically was imitating(brilliantly though) him is getting all the glory.
I hope I am not coming off as a sorehead with no sympathy for William's death, it's just its Winters who created the mold.

Which... Robin Williams frequently listed him as an influence and generally any comedy bio cites that. Plus, Winters never seemed to take umberage (at least I don't think he did considering his appearances on Mork & Mindy)

So, I guess I don't get the point?

Jonathan Winters was a tremendously talented comic, as was Robin Williams. I think they had different spins on the same persona. Happens in comedy all the time as influences are directly seen and people are cited as "the next so and so"

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Doc wrote,
"So, I guess I don't get the point?
Jonathan Winters was a tremendously talented comic, as was Robin Williams. I think they had different spins on the same persona...and people are cited as "the next so and so"

Respectfully Doc, I don't think you got the point. There is no 'different spin' here.
No one, ever, did or could do what Jonathon Winters did when he came on the scene. It was a brand new form of comedy. Only a special brain could have performed it and invented it in the first place.
INVENTED IT!
Robin Williams took Winters unique act and his star then rose so high Winters was overshadowed by it and thus most people now don't credit Winters with being the Master and Williams the apprentice.
It's a tribute to Robin he could do that. But it's Comedy 101 to either performers or comedy buffs that Williams routine was Winters. Watch a half hour routine of Winters and then Williams and there is no doubt.
Winter's legacy deserves to be honored.
So give the ever proud marine Winters his due as first in this rarified club that only has two qualified members. Semper Fi Mister Winters.

[ConchRepublican]

Wow . . . Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters did appearances together, he was even on Mork & Mindy.

Does this mean no one can play guitar because of Eddie Van Halen? I mean Eric Clapton? I mean Jimi Hendrix? I mean Chuck Berry? I mean Bo Diddley? I mean Robert Johnson?

Someone always came first. How come no love for WINTERS influence James Thurber?

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

"Wow . . . Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters did appearances together, he was even on Mork & Mindy. Does this mean no one can play guitar because of Eddie Van Halen? I mean Eric Clapton? I mean Jimi Hendrix? I mean Chuck Berry? I mean Bo Diddley? I mean Robert Johnson?"

Let me try it again, Conch. First, I already mentioned Winters appeared on Mork & Mindy, that was Robin's way of a grateful nod to the Master, which he would be the first to tell you. Robin recognized Winters as the best, so why do people fight it, just because Robin died? Winters is dead too, death is not an arguement.
As for all the guitar gods you listed, that just makes my point.
There is no one else who can do what Winters and Williams did, no top Ten List not even Five.
Just the two. Carrot Top is not in the running.
I think posters here might agree with me if they were more familar with Winters work, had seen his variety show, listened to his records, saw his appearances on the Tonite Show or in night clubs, seen his movies plus had cultivated a life long interest in humor.
In sum if Robin Williams recognized Winters as The Man, why would one insist otherwise unless you are substituting grief for reasoned arguement.

[Doc Ibold]

Fair enough

[Styles Bitchley]

Really, really liked Williams. I remember sometime in the 80s receiving his first comedy album "Reality, What a Concept!" on cassette because my cousin thought it was "too dirty." I would often listen to the whole thing before bed and I loved it, despite many of the cold war references going over my head. Years later I read a Reader's Digest article about him detailing his drug problems in the 70s. Listening back now, you can see how his intense stand-up performances back then were coke fuelled. Williams' over the top character could get a little annoying at times, but in general he was a guy I could rely on for a good laugh and a little comfort - an old reliable friend. Really a shame.

[KENJI]

I just heard that his wife revealed that he had early stages of Parkinson's...... http://arts.nationalpost.com/2014/08/14 ... wife-says/