Robin Williams Research Paper

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Robin Williams: Living the American Dream Americans are blessed with the freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Each person is entitled to pursue the true dreams and desires of his or her heart. These individualized opportunities are often referred to as the American Dream. Difficulties frequently arise on the journey to one's dream. One must find a way to conquer these struggles to make his or her dream a reality. Through comedy and drama, Robin Williams, has overcome many obstacles to achieve his American Dream. Robin McLaurin Williams was born on July 21,1951 in Chicago. Both of his parents were middle aged with grown children so Williams was raised as an only child. His father was a Ford Motor Company executive …show more content…

His first taste of success was making an appearance on "Laugh In" in the late 70s. Williams then appeared as "Mork from Ork" on an alien episode of "Happy Days." Mork was so popular the Garry Marshall produced a spin-off series featuring Robin Williams and Pam Dawber as "Mork and Mindy." The sitcom was an overnight success, and Mork's catch phrase "Nanu-Nanu" appeared everywhere. Williams often strayed from the script during filming. At the beginning the producers tried to stop him, but by the time it was over sections of the script were left out so Williams could improvise. A television critic said, "Though his ceaseless adlibbing can grate on sensitive nerves, there is something teddy bearish about Williams that make him tolerable, it certainly made Mork one of television's most popular characters"(Brennan 2). In 1979 Williams won a Golden Globe for "Best TV Actor- …show more content…

Williams quit for many reasons mainly because his marriage to Valerie was going down the drain, and she was pregnant. Also one of his friends, Jon Belushi died of an overdose. Although Williams was not present when Belushi passed, he had just snorted with Belushi just mere hours before. Williams commented, " The Belushi tragedy was frightening. His death scared a whole group of show business people. It caused a big exodus from drugs. And for me there was the baby coming. I knew I couldn't be a father and live that sort of life"("Robin Williams Enters Rehab for Alcohol" 1). Williams later stated, "Cocaine is God's way of saying you're making too much money"(Lanford

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