Hollywood Loses Two Legends

By Jacqueline Williams

This week the film industry lost two Hollywood legends, actor/comedian, Robin Williams, age 63, on Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, and actress, Lauren Bacall, age 89, on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014.  I definitely will miss the genius of Robin Williams, who I call my brother from another mother.  I remember when I first learned of his talent when he made a guest appearance on Happy Days.  He was so great, that his one appearance brought him a role on his own show, Mork and Mindy, in 1978.  It became one of my favorite shows.  I became very impressed with his comedic timing, and all of the voices and sounds he would create.  I had heard numerous stories of how he very seldom read the script, but could just adlib his lines.  Many of you may not know this but his first television show was on the final season of the show Laugh-In, in 1977.  After Mork and Mindy, Robin began acting in movies, and starred in more than seventy films”.  At the time of his death, he had completed four films to include a sequel to the 1993 movie, Mrs. Doubtfire.   Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, which just wrapped, will be released on Dec19.  Williams reprises his role as Teddy Roosevelt.

Betty Joan Perske, or you may have known her as Lauren Bacall, was born on September 16, 1924, in New York City.  She began studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City after school, so she could perform in some off-Broadway productions.  Once she graduated from school, she began a modeling career at 19, and appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar.  This is when her acting career began. The wife of a famed director saw Lauren’s cover and asked her husband to give her a screen test. She later was given the part of Marie Browning in the 1944 film, To Have and Have Not, to which she starred opposite Humphrey Bogart.  The two fell in love and were married in 1945.  They went on to star in other films”.

Both of these actors have a connection to the Tarheel State. They both filmed movies in the 1990’s.  Ms. Bacall’s movie was called The Portrait, and also starred Gregory Peck. This movie was shot in our capital city, in Raleigh. Robin Williams starred in Patch Adams, in 1998, and was shot on the campus of UNC- Chapel Hill.  

These two legends will be truly missed.