JP Calling Orson, Come In Orson...

I don't generally mourn entertainers. They, by definition, entertain. I do enjoy them, but they are paid to do a job that some do well, some do poorly and most fall somewhere in the middle. Whether it's movie or pop star, comic or cartoonist, writer or sports star, they are regular people with a skill (hopefully) and a career. They may have green room peculiarities but they put their pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us...they are mortal.

Robin Williams was not. He was so much more.

Robin had an infectious style that couldn't help but make you laugh; he had a provocative mind that couldn't help but make you think; and he had a careless abandon that couldn't help but make you dream. He was not merely a comedian or movie star, he was an artist.

I grew up with Robin...well not literally, but ever since I first saw him appear to Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) on Happy Days as Mork from Ork, I was hooked. When Mork & Mindy started, I was right there watching religiously each week, saying "Shazbot" when things pissed me off and "Na-nu Na-nu" when I wanted to say goodbye. My years can be marked by the time a grown up Peter Pan showed up on the show (ironically enough) or the arrival of Mearth (Jonathan Winters) his son as Orkans aged backwards (sorry Benjamin Button, Mork was here first). And I'm pretty sure Raquel Welch jump started puberty for me when she showed up as Captain Nirvana. I learned how to first wade into the pool of irreverent silliness with Robin and never looked back.

But like so many of us, life does not stand still. I marveled at him in Popeye, expanded my horizons in The World According to Garp and laughed and cried in Good Morning Vietnam; each new venture peeled back a layer of the man, exposing another dimension that was as deep and crazy as the former. But it was in 1989 when the world changed for me with Dead Poet's Society. I had enjoyed many a movie over the years, but that was the first time I was touched to a depth that reached my soul. Life seemed so much more after that. I came out of the theater wanting to form my own DPS, because the words of that film had resonated so deeply I though I might never be the same again. I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...

It was then that Robin became my muse.

I listened to his comedy performances and laughed out loud each time my world seemed dim. Every movie he did broadened my horizons and stirred fresh imaginings. The Fisher King brought home all the crazy ideas that roll through my head and the imaginary life that awaits out there. And Good Will Hunting encouraged me to find what is out there and not be barricade behind defenses and pain. Patch Adams made me want to be a doctor, leaving with me the lasting message that everyone brings something to the table.

But I think the movie I most loved him in, besides DPS was Hook. No other person could have epitomized the boy who never grew up than Robin. It was the character he was meant to play and he breathed life into that role so deeply that I regularly shout "bangarang" at random. It constantly reminds me to use my imagination and dream bigger. That life is full of wonder. Pan the Avenger will ever be my hero, my guide and my happy thought.

Words cannot fully express what Robin meant to me, but I will be forever grateful that my life was touched and transformed by this man that I never met in person, but shared an almost metaphysical connection to across the imaginary distance that separates us from one another. I cannot thank him, but I hope somehow that he knows now of at least this one life that he changed and channeled and made better through the gift of his craft. He was my hero. He was my friend. And I will always remember him and no matter what the future may bring or what dreams may come.

Fare ye well Robin Williams, fare ye well, I'll meet you on the other shore.