10 Things You May Not Have Known About Robin Williams

As the world struggles to come to grips with the loss of Robin Williams, who committed suicide, we take a look at the funniest man alive, as voted by Entertainment Weekly 1997.

10 Little Known Facts

*Williams was a very overweight child and no one would play with him. So, he started talking in different voices to keep himself company.

*During his 'Mork & Mindy' days, Williams departed from the scripts and ad libbed so many times producers stop trying to make him stick to the script and deliberately left gaps, leaving only 'Mork can go off here.'

*He studied at Julliard with actor Christopher Reeve and the two remained friends until Reeve's death in 2004. One week after Reeve's horse riding accident, Robin visited him in the hospital, dressed in scrubs, speaking in a Russian accent, with a surgical mask on. He was acting as if he was a real doctor and did a bunch of wacky antics. After he took off his mask, Reeve said, 'That was the first time he laughed since the accident.'

*In 1996 two of his films reach the $100-million mark in the United States exactly the same week: 'Jumanji' and 'The Birdcage.'

*Became a vegetarian following his open heart surgery.

*Enjoys cycling and occasionally trains with Lance Armstrong.

*Was voted 'Least Likely to Succeed' by his fellow graduates at Larkspur.

*Early in his career, he told a reporter he was born in Scotland. He admits now he was 'under the influence' at the time. He was really born in Chicago.

*When 'Blame Canada,' a song from 'South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut,' was nominated for a Best Song Academy Award, it was Williams who performed the song at the ceremony because the actress who sang the song in the film, Mary Kay Bergman, had committed suicide a few months prior to the awards show.

*Asked by James Lipton about what he would like God to say when he arrived, Williams answered 'There is a seat in the front.'

Take your front row seat Mr Williams and know you're memory will live forever.

[IMDB]