October 13: The link above leads to a rendition of the song “Friend Like Me,” as performed by the Genie in the 1992 Disney film Aladdin. The Genie was voiced by American actor-comedian Robin Williams, who died on August 11 at age 63. Williams’s voice performance (reprised in two subsequent Aladdin films) expanded possibilities for animated filmmaking, encouraging a literally breathless creativity from comic voice actors. Without it, subsequent work like Eddie Murphy’s voice performances in Mulan and in the Shrek films seems far less likely to have taken place.
The role of the Genie was written with Williams in mind, and it became one of his greatest achievements. As for his live-action work, he was known well for hyperactive, oft-improvised speech and motion in films like The Birdcage and Good Morning, Vietnam, much of which had been honed in early comic stand-up routines.
Williams also possessed an exquisite sense of timing that he brought with him into dramatic roles. In quieter dramas such as Awakenings and Good Will Hunting, he drew attention to himself in silence with large, gentle eyes that served as sites of reflection.
His film career was marked by memorable turns ranging from leading roles to cameos and walk-ons. His bit parts perhaps reached their apex in Deconstructing Harry, where he briefly and wonderfully assayed a recognizable nightmare as a man who discovers that he is living out of focus.
Nearly all the first-hand accounts that I have read up to now paint Williams as a generous person who was always willing to share himself with others. This generosity perhaps relates to how he could do poignant work in films, no matter the size of his role.