The character proved so popular that he commanded his own spinoff. Mork & Mindy, costarring Pam Dawber and Jonathan Winters, became a phenomenon, spiking sales of rainbow-colored suspenders and adding “nanu-nanu” and “shazbot” to the lexicon. The sitcom ran from 1978 to 1982. “I am completely and totally devastated,” Dawber said in a statement Monday afternoon. “What more can be said?!”
Williams made the leap to film with a string of wildly successful movies, showcasing a range beyond the motor-mouthed improvisation he built his standup career on: The World According to Garp, Moscow on the Hudson, Awakenings, The Birdcage, Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and Insomnia. He carved out a rich career as a voice-over actor in such animated features as Aladdin, Happy Feet, Robots, and FernGully.
He earned Oscar nods for Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, and Good Morning, Vietnam, before finally capturing the elusive statuette by upstaging Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with a touching supporting role in Good Will Hunting.