Anchor:

Multiple award winning comedian and actor Robin Williams died on Monday in an apparent suicide. For decades, he has dazzled audiences on screen, on stage and in front of a mic.

Xiong Siqi takes a look at his illustrious career.

Reporter:

Oscar-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams was found dead at his home in California. According to the sheriff's office in Marin County, north of San Francisco, a preliminary investigation shows the death was a suicide due to asphyxia, but the cause of death is still under investigation. He was 63.

Williams’ wife Susan Schneider said in a statement that ‘this morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken.”

Williams, who won an Academy Award for his role as a fatherly therapist in 1997’s “Good Will Hunting,” had been suffering from severe depression recently and entered a rehabilitation center to help him maintain sobriety. Williams said on leaving rehab.

“I'm doing great. I want to thank the millions and the thousands and also the people that have come up in person and thank them for all their support. It's been loving. It's been wonderful to know I'm not alone. That's the main thing. When you come out of rehab. If you know that then you've got a great shot."

At the premiere of the new film “The Giver”, veteran director Phillip Noyce said he had met Williams a few times and called him one of the greatest comedians of all time.

“He made us laugh deep down in our hearts, in our minds, ever part of our bodies. He made us laugh silly laughs and he made us laugh very, very, very, very complex laughs because he was so intelligent. He was a force of nature and also he was an extraordinary actor. His performance in Dead Poets Society is unrivaled.”

Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Robin Williams’ daughter on TV series ‘The Crazy Ones’, said he is one of the kindest human beings.

"I've been doing this 32 years and this is the most fun I have ever had on a job. I could talk about Robin Williams, do you have an hour? If I talked about of him the way I want to people would think I made him up. I mean you have this man who is truly one of the top 10 greatest all-time standup comics ever and he's also a Julliard trained, Academy award-winning actor. He's also one of the kindest human beings I've ever met."

President Barack Obama also sent statement from the White House by saying "Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien -- but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most -- from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets."

But Williams’ impact is universal. Here is Cheng Juan, a Chinese film maker.

"I am utterly shocked to learn that he is dead. As a filmmaker and artist, I absolutely salute to his achievement in art. He is an absolutely comic genius, academy award-winning actor. I am profoundly sad that he is gone.”

There was no denying Robin William is a raw comedy genius. He first became famous by introducing his frenetic style on late 1970s TV series “Mork & Mindy”. And over the 35 year course of his career, he would go on to display an astonishing and captivating versatility which made him one of Hollywood’s best loved actors. He won three Golden Globes, for “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “The Fisher King.”

Following the end of Mork in 1982, Williams found his background in stand-up comedy useful for his film career.

In 1987, his performance in movie Good Morning Vietnam earned him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. In the movie, Williams often deviated from the script during his DJ character’s radio broadcasts, with his energetic improvisation lending a comical energy to the film.

And his role as the inspirational English teacher in Dead Poet’s Society won him another Best Actor Oscar nomination. His line “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary” has inspired many young people to chase their dreams.

But it was his more dramatic portrayal of a fatherly therapist in the 1997 film, Good Will Hunting that earned him an Academy Award as the Best Supporting Actor.

Besides excellent performance on the screen, his “Robin Williams – Live 2002” also won a Grammy in 2003 for best spoken comedy album.

Born in Chicago in 1951, this comedy genius would remember himself as a timid kid who got some early laughs from his mother - by mimicking his grandmother. But it wasn’t until high school that his unique sense of humor helped him overcome his shyness. He was accepted into the prestigious Juilliard Academy on a full scholarship in 1973. When asked if heaven exists, what he would like to hear God say when he arrived at the pearly gates, Williams said.

“There’s seating near the front.The concert begins at 5. It will be Mozart, Elvis and one of your choosing. Or it would be nice, if heaven exists, to know there’s laughter. It would be a great thing just to hear God go “two Jews walk into a bar.”

Robin Williams had the rare ability to invoke both tears of laughter and sadness in his audiences. Even though he’s no longer with us, let’s hope he’s laughing with the stars in heaven!

For Studio+, I’m Xiong Siqi.