Aladdin

Special Feature

On Monday, August 11, 2014, we lost a truly talented actor. He goes by Patch, Dr. Sean, Teddy, Lovelace, Mrs. Doubtfire, Mork, Peter Pan, Genie, and countless other characters he brought to life. He was born around my birthday in Chicago, IL. This man is none other than Mr. Robin Williams.

I know what you are thinking. I am going to watch Aladdin and do that meal this week in Robin's honor. You would be incorrect. First of all, I do not have Aladdin on anything other than VHS. Second of all, I do not have a VCR. Thirdly, it is not on Netflix. Fourthly, I already had The Sword and the Stone to deal with. Finally, Disney is playing it a few times this weekend, but I think just watching Aladdin with a meal would not be a good tribute to the man that was more than our favorite lamp dweller.

So, I have decided to pay a tribute to him here. While I think it is a shame that he is gone, I am not going to focus on the darkness of the situation. I choose to focus on the light and laughter he brought to my life and many, many others.

As mentioned before, he played many loveable characters many of which I tie to my childhood. Solely based on his acting skills, he was an incredible talent. He could be serious, funny, crazy, etc, etc.

This IS a Disney blog, so I will start out with Robin's role as the genie. Robin and Disney had a bit of a falling out over the attention (which Robin did NOT want) that the Genie received from this movie, but they made up after a while and the Genie will always be a loved character (my favorite in that movie...carpet and Rajah were too, but they couldn't talk). Broadway's Aladdin even had a sing-a-long to "You've Never Had a Friend Like Me" to tip their hat to the big blue man.

Robin was much, much more than the genie, however (as I mentioned before). This is seen in the characters he played in his lifetime (I just included a few).

Flubber

Night at the Museum

Mork & Mindy

Nanu, nanu.

Peter Pan in Hook

Dr. Sean in Good Will Hunting

Alan in Jumanji

RV

I had my first "date" to this movie

and my dad totally did this to our old suburban. Dads and sinking vehicles...he didn't even rescue our copy of The Lion King (shakes head).

HEELLLLLOOOO, Mrs. Doubtfire!

I watched this SO much as a kid. Maybe it was because he/she danced with a vacuum or had hot flashes when cooking?

Cannot leave out what, in my opinion, is one of his best movies. Patch Adams

As you can see, Robin was a very versatile and talented actor but, after his death, there surfaced a few stories that told about the man he was off-screen. For example, the story about him standing up for his younger co-star when her school kicked her out for not being a "traditional" student (this was the girl that played Lydia in Mrs. Doubtfire).

He, also, was a HUGE supporter of St. Jude's Hospital starring in their commercials.

On the less serious side, he loved playing video games and even named his daughter after one (Zelda). World of Warcraft, after a fan outcry, is even going to pay tribute to him in their game.

The most moving tribute, however, came from his daughter Zelda. Her words about her father are definitely worth a Google.

Thanks for the laughs, Robin. You're free.