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Arcadia Weekly Aug 14, 2014
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-Photo by Terry Miller
By Terry Miller
Robin Williams’ very first comedy album, in 1979, said it all. Wow, the man was a genius and energetic beyond words. He was always working and always a very generous man with his time and money. But just like Smokey Robinson’s classic song, Tears of a Clown – Robin Williams’ glad expressions may have given us all the wrong impression.
Investigators in San Rafael said that Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams’ death was a suicide by hanging: At a news conference, Lt. Keith Boyd, assistant chief deputy coroner for Marin County, Calif., described the scene in far too much grotesque detail for primarily the entertainment press which seems to have a never-ending appetite for obtrusive and invasive copy on the well-known, rich, and famous.
Lt .Keth Boyd’s dispatch to the meat-hungry press corps was comparable to feeding the lions. Why he felt it necessary to give inappropriate, detailed aspects about the suicide earlier this week is a broader question. Why it was done is anyone’s guess but certainly it must be devastating for the family and close friends to know that the world knows details usually kept in the coroner’s report.
Did we really need to know all the details in Boyd’s report? In short, no.
But Boyd went too far, in this reporter’s opinion. It was a disgustingly detailed report of scene that no one ever wants to witness. There was nothing in Boyd’s report that helped us understand why the comedian took his own life, only explicit details dished up for the tabloid press which gobbled up and outwardly disseminated the words in all the gory detail.
Then there were the pundits on FOX and other channels decrying Robin Williams for taking the “cowardly way out…”
The hunger for celebrity news, dead or alive, is at fever pitch in this country. Gossip magazines pay absurd amounts of money for invading celebrities’ privacy.
Without knowing any of the sadness and deep depression Williams was experiencing, how could anyone make a judgment? FOX News can, will and did! Oh sure; these unprofessional twits later apologized, but the damage was done.
I met Robin Williams in Santa Barbara over twenty years ago when he appeared at a function honoring his idol and mentor, comedian Jonathan Winters.
The event took place at The Santa Barbara Biltmore and I along with my esteemed colleague and reporter friend Monica Prinzing were among a handful of journalists personally invited to cover the affair.
Monica and I had already known Mr. Winters as we had the rare privilege of spending an afternoon-long interview with him at his home in Montecito.
So in chatting with Jonathan Winters prior to the dinner, I asked if he expected his friend Robin Williams. He (Winters) indicated that Williams was invited, but time was pressing on and the awards were about to begin.
Myself and a photographer from the Santa Barbara Independent finally decided we had the shots we wanted, although we were really hoping to get a shot of the two like-minded comedians together.
We made our farewells and well-wishes to Jonathan and Ilene Winters and started to leave the hotel.
As we were walking out, I noticed a man in sweats talking to the concierge at the Biltmore. It was Robin Williams. The concierge pointed him in the direction of the special event for Jonathan Winters and both I and the other photographer grabbed out cameras, reloaded with tri-X film and ran back to the event.
We were the only two photographers to get to meet Robin Williams that day, shake his hand and get some classic images of the two great comedians together.
The next day, I got a ‘phone call from Jonathan Winters requesting copies of the photos of the two comedic giants I had shot the previous evening. He didn’t want any “freebies” from me, he wanted to pay. I gave his a set of all the pictures, naturally.
Robin Williams was deeply saddened by his idol’s death in April 2013.
Williams was a genuinely funny, kind man with piercing blue eyes and a heart of gold and a comedic and troubled genius. I, along with millions of other fans, will miss him enormously.
This newspaper and countless others did not report the graphic details of Mr. Williams’ suicide. Many outlets, however did so, over and over again.
Reality, what a concept indeed?
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