Robin Williams

Unexpected, shocking and tremendously sad news arrives this afternoon. Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams has passed away today at the age of 63. Early reports indicate that Williams may have taken his own life.

It wasn't long before the movies came calling, and Williams carved out an impressive career with roles both comedic and dramatic, or more often with elements of both. Directors such as Barry Levinson ("Good Morning Vietnam"), Terry Gilliam ("The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen," "The Fisher King"), Steven Spielberg ("Hook," "A.I."), Mark Romanek ("One Hour Photo"), Gus Van Sant ("Good Will Hunting"), Kenneth Branagh ("Dead Again"), Penny Marshall ("Awakenings," "Hamlet"), Christopher Nolan ("Insomnia") and countless others all found different shades of his talent in the work. And even in an animated role, playing the genie in Disney's "Aladdin," Williams' ferocious energy couldn't be contained.

But the actor showed he could turn off the persona and charisma that made him famous, and fearlessly took on darker roles, often in independent productions. He consistently challenged himself through his work, but never completely left behind his comedic skills that won him a devoted audience. And for these efforts he was honored time and again by audiences and the industry, winning an Oscar for "Good Will Hunting" (he was nominated a total of four times), in addition to two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, five Grammys and more.

Williams' final roles were in the comedy "Merry Friggin' Christmas" and in the Monty Python animated picture "Absolutely Anything." He had been filming "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," but there's no word yet on whether he completed his scenes for the movie.

Williams was a drug addict during the '70s and '80s, but had quit. However, he was re-admitted to rehab in 2009 for alcohol addiction, and more recently checked in again last month where he had planned to stay for several weeks.

It's hard to properly summarize Williams' impact, but this video from Peter Weir's "Dead Poets Society" pretty much says it all. Williams will be greatly missed.

Those who worked with him knew him to be a genius and the rarest of talents. After news of his shocking death spread, his friends and professional admirers expressed their love for the man Steve Martin called a "great talent, acting partner, genuine soul."

Robin Williams (1951-2014) Tribute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQrVf71NjyQ


 

important questions :-)

HIM - Celebs' lives

With their eighth studio album, ‘Tears on Tape,’ HIM have had a busy year. The band recently wrapped up their North American Rock Allegiance trek with Volbeat and All That Remains and now they are on the road in Europe.
During their last date of their U.S. tour in Brooklyn, we had the chance to chat with singer Ville Valo about the tour and the connection he has with his friends and bandmates. Valo also spoke about recording ‘Tears on Tape’ and why he thinks classical music should be banned. Check out our interview with Ville Valo:

How has Rock Allegiance treated you?
It’s been well, how does a tour go? Let’s see nobody’s been ill, the bus only broke down twice, everything got fixed quick the rest of the bands have been nice.

Amy Winehouse: the final interview

"I’m quite shy, really," Amy Winehouse told Neil McCormick in March, in what was to be the last interview she gave before she died.

In March this year, I did what turned out to be the last interview with Amy Winehouse. We didn’t talk about drugs, or rehab, or her unhappy love life, or cancelled tours and interrupted recording sessions.
It wasn’t about her well-publicised troubles at all. It was about music, about jazz and singing, the things that really motivated her, the things that made her great.

I was privileged to watch her record a duet with legendary crooner Tony Bennett in Abbey Road studios. It was a magical experience, watching these two great talents sing together, voices wrapping around each other, rising and falling, scatting and blending in jazzy cadences, as they worked up a version of the classic ’Body And Soul’, each take getting better than the last.

Winehouse was obviously nervous, exhibiting the slightly insecure demeanour of a brattish teenager, alternately blasé and sulky. She had run a gauntlet of paparazzi on arrival, and her entourage of stylists, management and record company representatives were worried about the response of their notoriously mercurial charge. Winehouse, however, dismissed concerns with a shrug and “Whatever!”

In mini-dress and patterned cardigan, she looked good, healthier than I had seen her in years, tanned and fuller-figured, big hair sculpted around her striking face. The year before, a producer I know described Winehouse as a write-off, creatively stuck and unable to function for ten minutes without resorting to drugs. The comment had offended her father, Mitch. “She’s not a write off,” he insisted. “She’s a recovering addict.”

Amy's story - 'Amy' tracks singer Winehouse's soaring talent, tragic demise

latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-amy-winehouse-movie-review-20150703-column.html


Singer Amy Winehouse before she performs at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan, NY, on March 13, 2007. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)

Before she won six Grammys (including a trio for her massive breakout hit "Rehab"), before she descended into a morass of addiction and public humiliation, before she died of alcohol poisoning at age 27, bravura British songwriter and vocalist Amy Winehouse was simply a young woman with an extraordinary gift for song.

Even as a teenager, producer Salaam Remi says, "she had the stylings of a 65-year-old jazz singer who knew the ropes up and down." Pianist Sam Beste, who accompanied her in those early days, says, "she needed music as if it were a person. She would die for it." Fearless in front of a microphone, she was terrified of only one thing: the prospect of fame.
'How did we let this happen?' The Amy Winehouse question and social science's take on modern fame
'How did we let this happen?' The Amy Winehouse question and social science's take on modern fame

"I don't think I'm going to be at all famous," she said nervously in a radio interview when she was but 20. "I don't think I can handle it. I'd probably go mad."