Billy Crystal’s cosmic tribute to Robin Williams at Primetime Emmy Awards
With a lump in his throat and a trembling voice, actor Billy Crystal paid a cosmic tribute to Robin Williams at the Primetime Emmy Awards following the comedian's death in an apparent suicide.
With a lump in his throat and a trembling voice, actor Billy Crystal paid a cosmic tribute to Robin Williams at the Primetime Emmy Awards following the comedian's death in an apparent suicide.
Crystal, a longtime friend of Williams who rose to fame on the same 1970s comedy circuit, remembered the madcap performer as "the brightest star in a comedy galaxy". "It is very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in our lives," said Crystal.
Few actors of Williams' generation were as skilled in moving between comedy and drama and for tackling roles as diverse as a cross-dressing British nanny in comedy to his Oscar-winning rendition of a fatherly therapist in .
Williams, 63, was found dead at his home near San Francisco on August 11. He had been suffering from severe depression, anxiety and early Parkinson's disease.
"While some of the brightest of our celestial bodies are actually extinct now, their energy long since cool, but miraculously, because they float in the heavens so far away from the sound, their beautiful life will continue to shine on us forever," Crystal said ahead of a series of clips of Williams' television performances.
"And the glow will be so bright, it will warm your heart, it will make your eyes glisten, and you'll think to yourself, Robin Williams - what a concept."
