When Robin Williams dies, you remember a connection. One that first forms in an empty mansion outside Detroit, and then reaches through the screen, big and small, into houses all over the world. President Barack Obama says what Robin meant to him. And to millions of others. “Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a 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.”

WARNING: This episode contains references to suicide and addiction. If you’ve been affected by any of the issues we spoke about in this podcast or are worried about someone you love, please go to crowdnetwork.co.uk/helplines to find a list of people you can go to for help.

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For Brittany Murphy, Hollywood’s a hall of mirrors. There’s a different Brittany wherever she looks. For some she’s a comic sidekick, for others a screen siren. Is she on the rise or washed-up?  Under-appreciated or over-promoted?  A victim or part of the problem? Sometimes, in Hollywood, when you’re looking for reality, all you find are others’ reflections. And eventually even Brittany herself is lost...

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There’s stuff you know about Chadwick Boseman – what he’s done as Black Panther, how good he was as James Brown in one biopic, as baseball hero Jackie Robinson in another, as judge Thurgood Marshall in his most recent. He’s different for the roles he plays, and different for what he does with them. But different, too, for all the stuff you don’t know.

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WARNING: this episode contains references to suicide.

It’s not true to say there’s never been anyone like Marilyn Monroe. There’s always been movie stars. There’s been blonde ones. Ones with bodies that half the world wants to stare at and the other half want to ban. But no-one’s done it like her, and no-one’s paying quite such a price.

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When you see the news, his face stays with you. Heath Ledger as the Joker. Smeared in white grease paint, a slash of red across the mouth, a shock of dark blue around the eyes. When you take on a part so completely, it’s hard to get out. Things merge. Actor and character meet and mix. 

But Heath’s not that Joker. He’s another. Because he’s an actor who doesn’t play by Hollywood’s rules. He’s a man who doesn’t follow suit…

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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