Goodbye, Robin Williams

Ten thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean, Filipinos in the Philippines, stars and personalities included, are grieving over the untimely death of Hollywood actor Robin Williams in his house in Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay Area. The reason for this is that Filipinos were among his big fans and ardent followers with his memorable performance in movies such as Good Morning Vietnam, Hook, Jumanji, The Birdcage, Mrs. Doubtfire, “Dead Poets Society,” “Patch Adams,” and Good Will Hunting, where he won a Best Supporting Actor award at the Oscars. He was well loved as Peter Pan in the movie of the same title and as voice of Genie in Aladin where he performed with Filipino actor Dante Basco and award-winning singer Lea Salonga.
But the American actor and comedian’s link to Filipinos and the Philippines goes beyond the impact of his movies and television work on Filipino audiences. For almost 20 years, Williams was part of an extended Filipino family as he married Filipino-American Marsha Garces, San Francisco-born daughter of a Filipino who served in the US Navy, and the marriage bore two children, one of whom, Zelda Rae Williams, is an actress herself now. Although, Robin and Marsha divorced in 2008, they and their children had good ties. Ten days before Robin died in an apparent suicide, he even greeted Zelda on her birthday. Much earlier, Robin spoke glowingly about his former father-in-law, describing the late Leon PantaleonGarces, as “a great man,” adding “They keep up with the Filipino part of my family.” Marsha served as Robin’s personal assistant while they were married and became the producer of at least four of Robin’s movies, like Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, Jakob the Liar and RobinWilliams Live on Broadway.
As fellow actors, comedians, fans and leaders like US President Barack Obama, and the world pay tribute to a great actor and comedian who had made millions laugh and happy for many years, Filipinos also take to social media to share their grief over his passing. To many of his fans, Robin Williams maybe dead, but the happy memories with his performance over the years will forever be remembered. Her daughter Zelda posted one apt quotation from the Prince and the Pauper as she grieved over the death of her father – “You – you alone will have the stars as no one else have them. In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars shall be laughing, when you look at the stars at night. You – only you – will have stars that can laugh.” Zelda ended with these words: “I love you. I miss you. I’ll try to keep looking up.”