The world lost more than brilliant actor yesterday. Robin Williams will be remembered as the breakout star of the hit television show, Mork and Mindy, and as the nanny who helped some of us through our parents' divorce in Mrs. Doubtfire, not to mention the kindly Patch Adams, my favorite Robin Williams film of all time. A mere 24 hours after his death, news outlets are revering his Oscar-winning work in Good Will Hunting, and sharing videos of his most hilarious comedic bits. But what about the man behind the laughter? As the late Maya Angelou once said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." We'll all remember the laughs, but here are some touching, little-known fact about how Williams treated others that deserve to be shared:
#1. Robin Williams was roommates with Christopher Reeves at Julliard in their early twenties...both went on to have very different careers, but they remained incredibly close.
While Williams played Mork on the iconic sitcom, "Mork and Mindy," Reeves was starring as Superman! The pair couldn't be more different, but couldn't be better friends.
Then Reeves suffered a tragic horseback riding accident that severed his spine and left him paralyzed...
He was laying on his back, frozen in the hospital soon after that happened, awaiting an extremely risky lifesaving surgery. Reeves wrote about the critical moment in his autobiography: "At an especially bleak moment, the door flew open and in hurried a squat fellow with a blue scrub hat and a yellow surgical gown and glasses, speaking in a Russian accent. He announced that he was my proctologist, and that he had to examine me immediately. My first reaction was that either I was on way too many drugs or I was in fact brain damaged. BUT IT WAS ROBIN WILLIAMS. He and his wife, Marsha, had materialized from who knows where. And for the first time since the accident, I laughed. My old friend had helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay."
#2. Robin Williams didn't just support his friends...he also supported our troops!
Williams was a staple on USO tours overseas, entertaining the men and women who so bravely guard our freedom.
He traveled everywhere – from Afghanistan to Iraq to Kuwait – always unabashedly honest and hilarious. "Thank you for making us laugh when we needed it most," one service member tweeted.
#3. Robin Williams wasn't close friends with Sharon Osbourne when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2002...but that was about to change!
But upon Ozzy Osbourne's request, he rushed to her bedside to entertain Sharon, who was one of Robin's BIGGEST fans. Watch the heart-wrenching video below, but be sure to have tissues on hand.
