Actors: Robin Williams

I feel like I should say something, but sound doesn't carry in a vacuum.

Robin Williams was a semi-staple of my childhood. I remember Mork & Mindy, just barely, but I do remember it. And later Dead Poets Society, which came at exactly the right time in my life to have a profound effect on me.

He was best known, I suppose, as the Genie from Aladdin (at least as far as my peers were concerned). And I saw him do stand-up dozens of times on cable. Williams was one of the first comedians I ever made that association with: comic, comedy, comedian, funny, Robin Williams.

I still consider The Bird Cage to be a classic. And who can forget The Fisher King? I even liked Dead Again, and almost nobody likes that movie. (Williams had a small role in it.)

Robin Williams was one of those people who'd been around forever—at least my forever—and it was taken for granted he always would be. Which was the first mistake. But I've only just realized he is (was) also the same age as my father, and don't we always think our parents will be around forever too? We know logically they won't be, but we go blithely along until the day we're really, truly confronted with the physical reality of it. And in similar fashion, we all went merrily along assuming Robin Williams would remain in the world, somewhere, even if he wasn't on our TVs or movie screens. Until he wasn't.

At the very least he'll be remembered well. Look at his formidable legacy. Both in comedy and drama. The man had range—many actors don't—and he worked hard to prove it. He broke through that assumption that he was "only" funny and won an Academy Award while at it. He was unique and a treasure, and he's left a hole no one will be able to quite fill. He will be missed.