Robin Williams would have turned 73 yesterday, and we rarely need a reminder of how great of a guy he was.
You will almost never see a story about the late great comedian that isn’t just effusively talking about how kind-hearted and lovely he was, and this one isn’t an exception to that.
There’s already numerous stories that float around of him, ranging from him helping his Mrs Doubtfire child-stars out of trouble in school to performing a stand-up routine for Sharon Osbourne to help her through her cancer treatment in 2002.
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Add to that Williams calling Steven Spielberg every week whilst we was filming Schindler’s List to cheer him up, and you just can’t look up Williams’ name without finding stories that make your heart full.
Another though is one of his lesser known, but perhaps most impactful, gestures of kindness.
Throughout his career, Williams - who sadly took his own life in 2014 - would insist that every project he worked on hire a minimum number of homeless or disadvantaged people for every project he worked on.
This reportedly totalled up to 1,500 people in his entire time working in film.
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The actor and comedian would go on to speak in a senate hearing about preventing homelessness in relation to the ‘Homelessness Prevention & Revitalisation Act of 1990’.
He said in this hearing: “This programme has incredible possibilities to deal with keeping people in their homes. The problem cannot be denied anymore, we cannot be a kinder blinder nation.
“You can't keep picking people up, you have to stop them from falling. That’s what I hope."
He went on to thank the senators in a ‘bi-partisan way’, saying: “I know it’s a little scary when you have a comic in front of you, it’s kind of like having a porcupine in a Haemophiliac ward.”
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One fan posted a clip of his senate hearing appearance on X, where someone replied to say: “This is so touching! I never knew he was involved in advocacy for homelessness.
“I just grew up watching his movies and being brilliantly comedic.”
Another commented on someone who posted the fact on reddit to point to a role of his which demonstrated the respect Williams had for homeless people.
They said: “You could tell from his portrayal of one in The Fisher King that he had a deep reverence and understanding of homeless people and what they could be going through/and or there is a deeply damage individual being victim because of it.”
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A third fan was a bit more blunt but summed up what we were all thinking.
They simply said: “F*cking legend.”
F*cking a-right.
Topics: Robin Williams, Celebrity, Mental Health
Michael Slavin