Robin Williams...

died earlier this week. It's a real blow. I think he was my favorite actor. Didn't connect as well to his comedy routines, but I loved his acting. Whether he was being super silly, like Mrs. Doubtfire and Aladdin and Jack, or deeply profound like Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society, or intensely emblematic of the human condition in Awakenings and Bicentennial Man and What Dreams May Come, or even super creepy like One Hour Photo, I was always able to connect with something he portrayed. Remember Hook? FernGully? His performances follow the landscape of my youth, and it's just hollowing to imagine the world without him. His daughter wrote:

Dad was, is and always will be one of the kindest, most generous, gentlest souls Ive ever known, and while there are few things I know for certain right now, one of them is that not just my world, but the entire world is forever a little darker, less colorful and less full of laughter in his absence.

That reminded me of an exchange from Jack, which seems suddenly, retroactively ominous. Bill Cosby plays Robin Williams' tutor in a story where Robin is a child aging physically at four times the normal rate (so he looks like a 40 year old at 10 years of age--perfect role for him, right?). In this scene, Robin is depressed and withdrawn, having been pulled from school because he had a heart attack. Bill is disheartened by the surrender. Mostly it's what Bill says:

Bill Cosby: You know why I like to teach children, Jack? So I don't get so wrapped up in being an adult. So I can remember there are other things that are important in life - like riding a bike, playing in a treehouse, splashing in water with your good shoes on. And you, my friend, were my most special student. And until recently, you were everything I ever wanted in a student. You were a shooting star amongst ordinary stars. Have you ever seen a shooting star, Jack?

Robin Williams: No.

Bill: It's wonderful. It passes quickly, but while it's here it just lights up the whole sky - it's the most beautiful thing you'd ever want to see. So beautiful that the other stars stop and watch. You almost never see one.

Robin: Why not?

Bill: Beacuse they're very rare. Quite rare. But I saw one. I did.

Robin: I just want to be a regular star.

Bill: Jack, you'll never be regular. You're spectacular.

He really was spectacular, and gone too soon for all of us who owe him a debt of joy.