See Robin Williams in His Most Beloved Roles, 11 Years After His Death

Robin Williams made the world laugh, cry, dance and sing for almost 40 years.

After struggling with an undiagnosed case of the debilitating brain disorder Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), the prolific actor and comedian died by suicide at age 63 on Aug. 11, 2014, at his Paradise Cay mansion in San Francisco.

Williams — who was born in Chicago — left behind an extraordinary legacy on-screen and onstage, emerging as a stand-up comedian in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the 1970s. However, it was his role as the hilarious, off-kilter alien Mork from Ork on the sitcom Happy Days and its spinoff Mork & Mindy that launched the comedic actor into stardom. By the late ’80s, Williams transitioned to film, starring as a defiant military disc jockey in 1987’s Good Morning, Vietnam and an inspiring English professor at a prestigious boarding school in 1989’s Dead Poets Society.

He then captivated and enchanted audiences of all ages in family comedies such as Hook (1991), Aladdin (1992) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) before taking home a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1998 for his moving performance as a therapist in the coming-of-age movie Good Will Hunting. With a diverse resumé spanning decades and genres, he effectively brought high-energy comedy, improvisation and emotional vulnerability to each character he played.

Not only does Williams’ creative legacy live on in classic movies and shows, but his daughter Zelda also inherited her father’s funny bone and acting chops. The filmmaker made her feature-length directorial debut in the 2024 horror comedy Lisa Frankenstein.

On the 11th anniversary of his death, take a look back at some of Williams’ most unforgettable roles.

Mork on Mork & Mindy

Williams’ breakout role came as playing Mork, an alien sent from the planet Ork to study humans. After guest-starring on an episode of Happy Days in 1978, Williams’ zany character proved so popular that ABC cast him as the lead a year later on the spinoff Mork & Mindy, opposite Pam Dawber as his human love interest Mindy McConnell. Through Mork, Williams’ comedic sensibilities reached a national audience for the first time.

Dawber has since recounted fond memories of being on the show, describing Williams as “such a nice person” in Dave Itzkoff’s 2018 biography Robin while detailing some of his inappropriate behavior on set.

“I had the grossest things done to me by him, and I never took offense,” Dawber said, per excerpts obtained by the Daily Mail. “I mean, I was flashed, humped, bumped, grabbed. I think he probably did it to a lot of people … but it was so much fun.”

Garp in The World According to Garp

In his first dramatic role in the 1982 film The World According to Garp, Williams took the lead in the screen adaptation of John Irving’s classic novel as T.S. Garp, a contemplative author wrestling (sometimes literally) with notions of family and sexuality.

The acclaimed dramedy dives into serious topics with humor and features Oscar-nominated stars John Lithgow and Glenn Close.

Close later described what it was like working with Williams during filming.

“Robin was so wonderful. He worked hard and had that great gift of making people laugh when they needed to,” Close, who played Jenny Fields, told Variety in 2018.

Close also revealed that she sought out the late comedian for advice ahead of hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time in 1989.

“I said, ‘Do you have any advice about Saturday Night Live?’ And he said, ‘Just don’t do anything you don’t think is funny, because you get all these different fabulous ideas.’ ” Close told PEOPLE in 2025 before adding, “I found that helpful.”

Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning, Vietnam

The beloved actor received his first Oscar nomination for playing Armed Forces Radio Services DJ Adrian Cronauer — a rebellious radio broadcaster who entertained in-country troops during the Vietnam War — in 1987’s Good Morning, Vietnam. The film’s broadcast scenes proved that his manic improvisations could work in a “serious” film.

The real Cronauer, who died in 2018, was an Air Force veteran and broadcaster. The movie tells a fictionalized version of his time in Vietnam; however, Williams based some of his performance on Cronauer.

“He did play rock and roll, he did do characters to introduce standard Army announcements, and ‘Goooood morning, Vietnam’ really was his signature line,” Williams told Rolling Stone in 1988. “He says he learned whenever soldiers in the field heard his sign-on line, they’d shout back at their radios.”

John Keating in Dead Poets Society

The warmth and force of Williams’ comic energy separates the 1989 coming-of-age drama Dead Poets Society from other films in the “inspirational teacher” sub-genre, as his poetry-loving lecturer John Keating inspired a generation of students to stand up for their beliefs (and stand on their desks).

Williams earned his second Best Actor nomination, while the film received a total of four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, with writer Tom Schulman winning Best Original Screenplay.

Ethan Hawke, who found his breakout role playing student Todd Anderson, later said that working with Williams on the film was a formative experience in his career.

“He gave me the first taste of what acting could be,” Hawke told journalist Willie Geist on Sunday Today in 2018. “When it goes really well, you disappear and you’re in service of a larger story.”

Peter Pan in Hook

He worked with director Steven Spielberg in 1991’s Hook, which was one of the biggest box office hits of Williams’ career. He played Peter Banning, a workaholic lawyer and father of two who has forgotten that he’s Peter Pan. When Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) kidnaps his children, he must return to Neverland and slash them.

Even as he approached middle age, Williams delighted in letting out his inner teenager, making him the perfect choice to play the adult version of the boy who refused to grow up.

After Williams’ death, Raushan Hammond, who played the smiling Lost Boy Thud Butt, said that Williams “really was truly Peter Pan.”

“His energy level alone. I never saw him down or even tired,” Hammond told PEOPLE in 2014. “The role really fit him.”

Genie in Aladdin

For a generation of ’90s kids, the Disney animated film marked one of Williams’ most definitive performances. The actor’s physical form matched the energy of his voice as the effervescent genie in 1992’s Aladdin.

He improvised much of his dialogue in the Oscar-winning fairy tale, and then the animators and editors worked to shape it into the story, according to Variety. Before Aladdin, it was rare for movie stars to lend their voices to animated films, but Williams started a trend that continues to this day.

Scott Weinger, who voiced the title character, told PEOPLE the first time he met Williams.

“We were introduced, and they said, ‘This is Scott, he’s Aladdin.’ And he shook my hand and he said, ‘I’ll be your genie,’ ” Weinger said in 2024. “Which I thought was very cool.”

Daniel Hillard in Mrs. Doubtfire

Williams underwent a physical transformation for Mrs. Doubtfire, playing both the titular character and Daniel Hillard, a father who disguises himself as a female British housekeeper to secretly stay close to his children after he and his ex-wife (Sally Field) get divorced, unbeknownst to her, of course.

Even under a foam suit, wig and prosthetic mask that altogether took five hours to apply, Williams’ personality was on full display. He helped Mrs. Doubtfire become the second-highest-grossing film of 1993, according to Business Insider.

After Williams’ death, the San Francisco house featured as the family’s home in the film became a makeshift location for tributes to the actor. Fans left flowers, photos and messages carved into a tree outside the home, according to former owner Douglas Ousterhout.

“The big thing is that this is a place for people to pay respect to Robin Williams, and I don’t know how the house became that, but I’m glad it did,” Ousterhout said in the 2024 documentary The House From …, which explores famous homes featured in movies and TV shows.

Alan Parrish in Jumanji

Williams continued his streak of blockbuster family films with 1995’s Jumanji, a fantasy adventure based on Chris Van Allsburg’s 1981 picture book. Williams played the adult Alan Parrish. Alan was transported into a magical board game when he was in middle school and grew up living in a magical jungle, trapped until someone rolled the dice on a five or an eight. He’s finally freed 26 years later, along with a bunch of dangerous animals who run wild in his Brantford, N.H., hometown.

Kirsten Dunst, then 13 years old, played Judy Shepherd, a mami who helps free Alan. In 2024, the actress revealed Williams gifted her a computer as a production wrap gift.

“It was an Apple, the ones that came in all those different colors,” Dunst told Variety of the computer. “He was like the most generous, kind, funny person.”

Armand Goldman in The Birdcage

Williams’ love of camp made him stand out among his comedic peers, and playing Armand opposite Nathan Lane‘s Albert presented the opportunity to indulge his wilder instincts in the 1996 comedy The Birdcage. Williams and Lane portray a gay couple who pretend to be straight to win over their son’s (Dan Futterman) fiancée’s (Calista Flockhart) conservative parents (Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest).

Lane described making the film as “an extremely happy experience.”

“He [director Mike Nichols] put together an extremely nice group of people who were also very, very talented and led by Robin, who was the dearest and sweetest guy in the world, and so talented,” Lane told PEOPLE of Williams in 2024, adding, “He was incredibly generous to me.”

Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting

After earning three nominations, Williams took home the golden statuette in 1998 for playing Sean Maguire, a quiet therapist who helps Matt Damon‘s titular troubled genius overcome his insecurities, in Good Will Hunting. As the dispenser of wisdom that was both obvious (“It’s not your fault”) and uncomfortable (“I can’t learn anything from you I couldn’t read in some book”), Williams proved to be the perfect mentor in the 1997 drama, costarring and co-written by BFFs and collaborators Ben Affleck and Damon.

In a 2024 interview with Jake Hamilton of Jake’s Takes, Damon recalled being amazed by Williams’ acting abilities while they filmed the famous “It’s not your fault” monologue.

“Robin was off-book in pre-production, which was nuts, because that monologue was like two pages long, and I don’t say anything in that scene — just at the very best — and then he goes into that thing,” the screenwriter-actor said of filming the scene.

Damon added, “I remember rehearsing it with him, and I was off book because we wrote it, but he just put his script down … and Ben and I kind of looked at each other like, ‘This is going to be amazing.’ “

Walter Finch in Insomnia

In 2002, Williams challenged himself with some of the darkest films of his career, taking on sinister roles that played against type. One of them was as serial killer Walter Finch in director Christopher Nolan‘s thriller Insomnia.

Al Pacino plays Will Dormer, a detective in Alaska, trying to catch Finch while suffering from crippling insomnia exacerbated by the arctic town’s perpetual daylight. The film showed a side of Williams that audiences had never seen before.

“I wasn’t interested in any kind of inversion of his comic persona, some kind of manic villain,” Nolan told the BBC at the time about directing Williams. “What I wanted him to do, and what he was excited to do, was to play a character the likes of someone he’s never played before — an unexceptional character.”

Nolan continued, “He’s [character Walter] a guy who, if he was sitting next to you on the bus, you wouldn’t give a second glance. Robin’s never done that before. He’s played bad guys before, he’s done dramatic roles, but he’s never played somebody utterly ordinary.”

Sy Parrish in One Hour Photo

One Hour Photo is another memorable film from Williams’ trip to the dark side in 2002. In the psychological thriller, he plays the mentally unstable Seymour “Sy” Parrish, a photo lab technician who becomes dangerously obsessed with a family whose pictures he develops. It’s arguably the scariest performance of Williams’ career, with the actor’s usual warmth twisted into something disturbing.

Williams changed his appearance more than usual for the role, bleaching his hair blond and wearing wire-framed glasses.

“The physical transformation — it kind of helped to feel the isolation and the loneliness of Sy,” Williams told the BBC that year on how he got into character. “And there have been times where my life was just isolated, and I drew on that as well.”

Theodore Roosevelt in Night at the Museum

The 2006 comedy Night at the Museum was the highest-grossing film of Williams’ career, not adjusted for inflation, according to The Numbers. Ben Stiller stars as Larry, a night security guard who enters a fantasy world akin to the ones Williams explored in Jumanji and Hook. Williams steals the show in a supporting role as a wax figure of President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt that comes to life — along with every other exhibit in the Museum of Natural History.

Williams reprised the role in two sequels, with the final film in the trilogy, 2014’s Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, becoming one of the last projects he worked on before his death.

Stiller has credited Williams with being an important part of the franchise’s success.

“I remember when the first movie happened, and Shawn [Levy, the director] said he wanted to ask Robin to play Teddy Roosevelt, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the most brilliant idea in the world. We can’t do the movie if he doesn’t say yes,’ ” Stiller told PEOPLE at the premiere of Secret of the Tomb a few months after Williams’ death. “That’s really how we always felt, so he’s an integral part of this.”

Former costar Rami Malek also shared a memory of Williams on the set of the third installment and what he observed from the generational talent.

“We’re shooting at the British Museum at night, and we have the place all to ourselves,” Malek told host Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on The Tonight Show in 2021. “And Robin — you could tell something was happening with him. He would go on these riffs every once in a while and light up the world, and you’d be like, ‘Oh my God. Who are you?’ And then dip back down into this other place.”

Malek continued, “And so I see him veer off and he walks off alone, and he’s just kind of staring at this massive rock in the British Museum. And I’m like, ‘Oh, man. What’s going on with him? Is he all right?’ ”

“I walk up to kind of say, ‘Is everything okay?’ And he looks at me, just kind of slightly over the shoulder, and he goes, ‘How often do you get to be alone with the Rosetta Stone?’ ” Malek said of Williams marveling at the historic relic and being present in the moment.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.