12 Amazing but Lesser Known Facts about the Late King of Comedy Robin Williams

6His favorite book was C.S. Lewis "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,"

Among the facts about Robin Williams, his favorite book as a child was "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”. He would often read it to his kids as well. "Growing up, it was The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - I would read the whole C.S. Lewis series out loud to my kids. I was once reading to Zelda, and she said "don't do any voices. Just read it as yourself." So I did, I just read it straight, and she said 'that's better.'’ 

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7He loved improvising his scenes in films

In Mrs. Doubtfire when Daniel sticks his head in a cake during a visit by Mrs. Stellar, the scene was a spontaneous act by Williams because his frosting makeup was melting from the heat of the camera lights. Another famous incident of improvisation was during the making of the animation film Aladdin when he did about 40 takes with different voices overs to finally get it right. Incidentally, the producers had the role of the Genie written especially for Robin Williams which they admitted was a well-calculated risk that paid off. 

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8He shared a room with Christopher Reeve, his best friend at Juilliard Acting School

At Juilliard Acting School, he shared a room with his best friend Christopher Reeves who played the earlier, Superman. It was Williams who made Reeves laugh just a few days after his fatal riding accident that paralyzed him permanently. According to Reeves, ''He announced that he was a proctologist and had to examine me immediately," Reeve wrote in his memoir Still Me, according to a New York Times review. "And for the first time since the accident I laughed.'' Reeves and Williams even attended the same dialects class. On Reeves speaking about Robin Williams, he said he never really knew what to make of him as Robin could instantly rattle off in different dialects including Irish, Italian, English, Russian and Scottish. 

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9Disney tried to pacify him with a Picasso Painting when he was annoyed with them

Disney tried promoting Aladdin merchandise using the voice of the Genie which was done by Williams. He said "I don't want to sell stuff. It's the one thing I won't do,” Disney tried making it up to him by gifting him a Picasso painting in which the artist imagined himself to be Van Gogh. The painting was worth $1 million. 

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