Robin

by Dave Itzkoff

Overview

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE
A SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A VULTURE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

"A generous, appreciative biography of Robin Williams by a New York Times culture reporter. The author, who had access to Williams and members of the comedian’s family, is an unabashed fan but doesn’t shy away from the abundant messiness in his subject’s personal life."—The New York Times Book Review

From New York Times culture reporter Dave Itzkoff, the definitive biography of Robin Williams – a compelling portrait of one of America’s most beloved and misunderstood entertainers.

From his rapid-fire stand-up comedy riffs to his breakout role in Mork & Mindy and his Academy Award-winning performance in Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams was a singularly innovative and beloved entertainer. He often came across as a man possessed, holding forth on culture and politics while mixing in personal revelations – all with mercurial, tongue-twisting intensity as he inhabited and shed one character after another with lightning speed.

But as Dave Itzkoff shows in this revelatory biography, Williams’s comic brilliance masked a deep well of conflicting emotions and self-doubt, which he drew upon in his comedy and in celebrated films like Dead Poets Society; Good Morning, Vietnam; The Fisher King; Aladdin; and Mrs. Doubtfire, where he showcased his limitless gift for improvisation to bring to life a wide range of characters. And in Good Will Hunting he gave an intense and controlled performance that revealed the true range of his talent.

Itzkoff also shows how Williams struggled mightily with addiction and depression – topics he discussed openly while performing and during interviews – and with a debilitating condition at the end of his life that affected him in ways his fans never knew. Drawing on more than a hundred original interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, as well as extensive archival research, Robin is a fresh and original look at a man whose work touched so many lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250214812
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	05/14/2019
Pages:	560
Sales rank:	84,047
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Dave Itzkoff is the author of Mad as Hell, Cocaine’s Son, and Lads. He is a culture reporter at The New York Times, where he writes regularly about film, television, theater, music, and popular culture. He previously worked at Spin, Maxim, and Details, and his work has appeared in GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, and other publications. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Part One: Comet
1. Punky and Lord Posh 7
2. The Escape Artist 28
3. Legalized Insanity 56
4. My Favorite Orkan 84
5. The Robin Williams Show 107
6. Mork Blows His Cork 126
7. Bungalow 3 146

Part Two: Star
8. Mr. Happy 167
9.Tough Love 187
10. Gooooooood Morning 205
11. O Captain! 224
12. Dreamlike Parts, with Phantasmagoric Associations 244
13. Father Man 264
14. Hot Flashes 282

Part Three: Supernova
15. The Golden Dude 305
16. Fade to White 325
17. Weapons of Self Destruction 346
18. The Tiger in Winter 365
19. Gone 385
20. Everything Will Be Okay 406
21. The Big Room 423

Epilogue 437

Robin Williams: Selected Works and Awards 441
Notes 449
Acknowledgments 509
Index 513

Editorial Reviews

A New York Times Bestseller

Named a Best Book of the Year by Vulture, San Francisco Chronicle, AARP The Magazine, Mental Floss, The Sunday Times, and Writer's Bone

"A must-read."—Vogue

"Dave Itzkoff allows readers a rare intimate look at Robin Williams in this honest and emotional biography of the late entertainer. . . . Robin is a fresh look at a man loved by many but truly understood by few."—Time

"Will make you weep in missing him just as much as you laugh in remembering him."—Entertainment Weekly

"Immersive, intimate and incredibly detailed. . . . A revealing, warts-and-all portrait of a man of great talent trying to design a career and a life while being buffeted around by a cacophony of contradictory voices and impulses. . . . The result of exhaustive research and fan-like devotion."—Merrill Markoe, Washington Post

"A breathtakingly good biography, exhilarating a lot of the time, yet disturbing, too, and one of the best books ever written about anyone who sees no way out of life except by trying to make people laugh. Or is it weeping? Who can tell in a storm?"—David Thomson, San Francisco Chronicle

"A generous, appreciative biography of Robin Williams by a New York Times culture reporter. The author, who had access to Williams and members of the comedian’s family, is an unabashed fan but doesn’t shy away from the abundant messiness in his subject’s personal life."—The New York Times Book Review (editor's choice)

"Terrific. . . . Itzkoff captures the ebb and flow of Williams’s career beautifully, with respect and with honesty. . . . [Here is] a life that was both miraculous and troubled, told in an artfully shaped, fact-filled book that honors the truth of his life."—Boston Globe

"There will never be anyone quite like Robin Williams, and there may never be another celebrity profile or biography quite like this again either. It’s not hyperbole to say that New York Times correspondent Dave Itzkoff’s engrossing and all-encompassing biography of one of the most beloved actors of the second half of the 20th century will change you."—Fortune

"The biography we've been waiting for. . . . [A] meaty, well-researched, moving story of a man who could never quite come to terms with his own brilliance."—Booklist

“This well-written page-turner is the definitive biography of the genius of Robin Williams, whose life redefines the highs and lows of the American dream.”—Steve Martin

“[A] page-turner. . . . [Itzkoff keeps] us clued into so many aspects of Williams’ life, with finesse and foreboding, but no showy sentiment. His writing is simply imbued with Williams’ special intimate connection.”—Newsday

"[Williams'] life was one of compulsive creativity and genuine kindness and perpetual insecurity and frequent infidelity and uniquely electric imagination. Dave Itzkoff’s biography 'Robin' gets its hands around as much of that life as possible. It's an incisive, comprehensive, very fine book. . . and the author captures it with grace and evenhanded perception."—Chicago Tribune

"Reveals the heart and soul of an icon."—Christian Science Monitor

“In Robin, Dave Itzkoff manages to straddle the man and the myth of Robin Williams, all the while helping us see why we fell in love with both. He has written a book about the truth and pain that lies in comedy, and the price paid by a sensitive soul.”—Amy Poehler

"[A] really great book - a living chronicle & secret history of 50 years of American pop culture - and you should pick it up!"—Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys

“Dave Itzkoff’s Robin is much like the man himself—warm, funny, frenetic, with a core of darkness and empathy. It gets at that darkness, and shows how it fueled, beautifully, the manic brain and kinetic body of the man himself. An amazing read."—Patton Oswalt

"Thoughtful and devoted. . . .a must-read."—Harper's Bazaar

"This book should be on everyone's summer reading list. It's certainly on mine."—James Corden

"Many who never knew [Robin Williams] were hit hard by the loss — how could someone so dizzyingly funny encompass such darkness? Dave Itzkoff’s well-researched, thoughtful biography fills in some of those shadows."—Seattle Times

"Captures the magic and the sadness of Robin Williams' life ... a well-researched and solidly written biography."—Dallas Morning News

"A revealing portrait of the motivations of a quiet comic genius whose explosive persona moved millions."—Kirkus

"Meticulously sourced and comprehensive in scope, Itzkoff's work gives Williams's many fans a rare glimpse of the man behind the celebrity."—Publishers Weekly

“Williams may well be one of those people who are impossible to fully understand, but this book is as close as anyone will ever come.”—Chuck Klosterman, author of But What If We’re Wrong?

“Dave Itzkoff has produced a remarkable and empathetic portrait, packed with satisfying detail, of a comic whirligig who could break your heart.”—Julie Salamon, author of The Devil’s Candy and Wendy and the Lost Boys

“In his probing and compassionate biography, Dave Itzkoff does justice to both the blazing light and the dark corners in his work and life. Robin is deeply reported, finely attuned to the ebb and flow of a long and singular career, and ultimately very moving.”—Mark Harris, author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back

“This engrossing book paints a stunningly complete picture of both the man and the comedian. A triumph, and a tragedy."—Alan Sepinwall, coauthor of TV (The Book) and author of The Revolution Was Televised

From the Publisher

Dave Itzkoff's new biography of Williams…is undertaken in [a] generous, appreciative spirit…Though Robin, at upwards of 500 pages, is exhaustively reported and doesn't shy away from the abundant messiness in Williams's personal life, it never crosses the threshold from critical assessment into bonkers character assassination…nor does it marinate in sordidness…What we get is a straightforward, chronological account of how an introverted wealthy kid…blossomed into a sui generis comic force of nature…Robin is as definitive an account as we're ever likely to have of the man, but, like the shape-shifting genie he voiced in Disney's Aladdin, Williams was not entirely of this earth, and a part of him will always elude capture.

The New York Times Book Review - David Kamp

03/19/2018
According to this perceptive biography from Itzkoff (Mad as Hell), comedian Robin Williams was a man driven by a deep need for adulation and acceptance. Itzkoff introduces Williams as a brilliant, imaginative child left to his own devices in a sprawling mansion in the suburbs of Detroit, then describes his sometimes contentious relationship with his Ford executive father, his time in a community college drama department, his training at Juilliard (where he met lifelong friend Christopher Reeve), his breakthrough role on Mork and Mindy, and his long movie career. Along the way, readers meet the people who sustained him for much of his life, in particular the comic Billy Crystal, who perhaps knew him best, and his second wife, Marsha, who for years supervised much of his professional life. Nevertheless, Williams was consumed with misgivings about his stature as a star, a doubt that found expression in drug and alcohol abuse, and in his struggle to find film projects that could harness his manic talents. Itzkoff goes into detail on the debilitating illness (Lewy body dementia) that some of those close to Williams believe caused the comedian to commit suicide in 2014. Meticulously sourced and comprehensive in scope, Itzkoff’s work gives Williams’s many fans a rare glimpse of the man behind the celebrity. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Narrator Fred Berman’s youthful enthusiasm percolates through his performance of this in-depth, detailed, and quite revealing biographical analysis of Robin Williams’s life and career. Williams’s transition from stand-up to the situation comedy of “Mork and Mindy” was a career turning point. And, as with many fine comedians, Williams also had talent as a serious actor, which is mined and discussed. But, despite his brilliance, self-doubt, various addictions, and, later, serious illness got the best of him. As is well known, Williams took his own life in 2014. Close friends, associates, and family members offer fresh points of view. This audiobook’s brutal honesty is matched only by its sincerity and admiration for its subject. W.A.G. 2019 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

JULY 2018 - AudioFile

2018-03-19
A New York Times culture reporter uses both straight reporting and insightful analysis in the first major biography of Robin Williams (1951-2014).After discovering his talents as a comedian and actor in his late teens, Williams was clearly going places—but where? As Billy Crystal described one of Williams' early performances in the book, "it was like trying to catch a comet with a baseball glove." With his madcap stage antics, trademark rainbow suspenders, and rapid-fire shifting from character to character, he mesmerized audiences everywhere, first in the small comedy clubs of New York, then on TV, and eventually in Hollywood films. "But who was he?" So asks Itzkoff (Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies, 2014, etc.) in the prologue of this comprehensive examination of Williams' long career as an actor, family man, and friend. The author portrays an artist who, though not necessarily tormented, was driven by his insecurities and addictive personality to seek constant and immediate validation through his performances. From a stint at Juilliard, through his early success with Mork & Mindy, and finally his big breaks with Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, and Aladdin, Itzkoff chronicles his career arc and friendships with the likes of Christopher Reeve, Billy Crystal, and Richard Pryor, among countless others. Through their perspectives, along with those of his parents, children, and wives, the author draws out the many different Robins the world has come to know—but as the Itzkoff shows, there was so much more. His suicide came as a major blow to nearly everyone around him, and many are still puzzled by this final act from an artist who seemed to have it all. Itzkoff explores all the theories, including the surprising and probable one involving Lewy body disease, which caused crippling dementia and robbed Williams of his ability to perform.In this solidly reported and much-anticipated book, Itzkoff delivers a revealing portrait of the motivations of a quiet comic genius whose explosive persona moved millions.

Kirkus Reviews