My job as a celebrity journalist threw me in Robin William’s path many times and I never forgot any of those moments. He was not only funny but complex and brilliant. I never interviewed anyone else like him.
My first interview with him was for the film “Toys” in 1993 . He made an impression on me that I will never forget. To remind him that he had to talk to me not as a woman as my voice was replaced most of the time by men. I said “I have no sex,” before I could explain what I meant he jumped in and said “Get this woman a roto-rooter.” From then on we were connected. He remembered me each time I went to interview him. Maybe it was because I would use his private bathroom before I could sit down with him. His job was to make me laugh, my job was to hold it all in. Of course he won.
With a mind forever moving faster than I could think he came up with comic moments unlike anything I previously encountered. I never judged his performances, as it was the man, not the actor, that I was getting to know little by little behind the comic riffs When I said to him “If you keep me laughing, I will never find out who you are” and he smiled. Then I said “Do you know who you are?” he answered “Yes.” “Are you going to tell me?” he said “No.” To me that was the man behind the laughter talking and giving a little of himself and then closing himself off by making me laugh.
What’s great about Robin, the actor, was that there were so many amazing roles that will insure his place among the comic greats. Of all the film roles that he did, ny favorite would have to be “Dead Poets Society,” as he made me not only seize the day, but also make the most of it.
I am so glad to have had these memories of a man who made me laugh till I cried and made me cry till I laughed. Lucky for me that our paths crisscrossed for many years. .
