When a celebrity passes away, I often think it’s a shame, but don’t get too upset. The news this morning of Robin Williams’ passing I actually found really sad.
I think there are a few reasons for this. Firstly, he was an incredibly talented man. I went on his IMDb page this morning and just the immense list of quality films is amazing.
For me the top one of all has to be Mrs Doubtfire, (although there are several of his films I’m still yet to see) I think this film was the first thing I watched that dealt with the idea of divorce, it was a film that dealt with all emotions. But the mark of a good actor, I feel, is that you don’t even realise it’s them, and I found it so hard to believe that this woman could actually be the same Robin Williams!
Other favourites include Flubber, Aladdin and Good Will Hunting. Dead Poet’s Society is on my list of things to watch soon.
The other reason this has upset me is just the circumstances of his death. Depression is a frightening illness, and mental illness still doesn’t get as much exposure as it needs to reduce the stigma around it.
If any good comes from this, I hope it’s that more people become aware of the dangers of mental illness, more people open up about how they’re feeling, more people ask others how they’re doing. As I drove home this evening the guy on the radio was urging people to just talk to someone if they’re feeling low, to get help. You would never normally hear something like that on a drive time commercial radio programme. The change in attitude, the openess of the presenter, the frankness of it all reduced me to tears, we need more of that, that needs to be normal.
It saddens me that the people who seem the most bright and cheerful are often the people that suffer the most with this. He was a talent that could never be equalled or replaced.
Tributes have been pouring in over social media, and possibly none more emotive than this one
https://twitter.com/evanrachelwood/status/498981232697307139
ineke.co.uk 