On June 28, 2007, I had the rare opportunity to be in New York City outside the NBC News studio for a taping of the TODAY show. Meredith Vieira was interviewing Robin Williams. Below are the unedited, raw images that I captured that day. Robin's back was to me during the interview, but I did catch a closer glimpse of him as he was walking away. Unfortunately, I was shaking so badly from the excitement, that the image came out blurry. Later that same day, I would be in the audience at the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway for a taping of Late Night with David Letterman. Williams was also a guest for that show.
It was such a privilege and a thrill beyond my wildest dreams to see this one-of-a-kind comedian in person, even if it was from a distance. The crowd that gathered that day was energized just by his brief presence. I remember realizing for the first time how short he seemed--since you really never get a sense of an actor's height on TV or the silver screen.
When I was in high school, I remember buying and listening to his comedy album from 1979, "Reality...What a Concept." My sister, who was too young to understand most of his witty one-liners, quickly had it memorized and would go around repeating the monologue verbatim.
One of my Facebook friends posted that Robin's death is like the end of an era, and that just really says it all for me. Over the last 30 plus years, I've enjoyed watching him as Mork, Adrian Cronauer, Peter Banning, Genie, Daniel Hillard, Alan Parrish, Professor Philip Brainard, Patch Adams, Andrew Martin, and Reverend Frank just to name a few of my favorites.
I have never shed a tear over the passing of a celebrity before...until now. The entertainment industry has lost one of the all-time greats.
