羅賓·威廉斯出生於芝加哥，父親 Robert Fitzgerald Williams 是福特汽車的高階主管，母親 Laurie McLaurin 曾是模特兒。他在家境優渥卻相對孤獨的環境中長大，年幼時內向害羞、曾遭受同儕霸凌，即興幽默與模仿逐漸成為他應對孤獨與焦慮的方式——這個習慣後來定義了他整個表演生涯。全家搬到舊金山灣區後，他就讀 Redwood High School 並開始接觸戲劇。

Robin Williams was born in Chicago to Robert Fitzgerald Williams, a Ford Motor Company executive, and Laurie McLaurin, a former model. He grew up in a wealthy but relatively lonely household — shy, introverted, and bullied as a child, he gradually turned to improvisation and impersonation as a way of coping with isolation and anxiety, a habit that would go on to define his entire performing career. After the family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, he attended Redwood High School and began exploring drama.

他先後在 Claremont Men's College 與 College of Marin 就讀，最終獲得獎學金進入紐約的 茱莉亞學院（Juilliard School），與後來成為終身摯友的 Christopher Reeve（《超人》男主角）同班。茱莉亞戲劇系主任 John Houseman 曾告訴他：茱莉亞已經沒有什麼可以再教他的了，鼓勵他直接投入專業演出——這段軼事後來成為他早期天才的最佳註腳。他也是該屆 Advanced Program 僅錄取的兩名學生之一，另一位正是 Christopher Reeve。

He attended Claremont Men's College and College of Marin before earning a scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York, where he became lifelong friends with classmate Christopher Reeve (of Superman fame). John Houseman, head of Juilliard's drama division, famously told him there was "nothing more Juilliard could teach him" and encouraged him to pursue professional work immediately — an anecdote often cited as early proof of his genius. He was one of only two students admitted to the Advanced Program that year, the other being Christopher Reeve.

離開茱莉亞後，威廉斯投入舊金山與洛杉磯的單口喜劇圈，逐漸以極快的語速、天馬行空的聯想跳躍與無人能複製的即興能力闖出名號。他的表演風格幾乎完全違反傳統單口喜劇的「寫好段子」模式——他更像是在觀眾面前即時生成一整個宇宙的角色與聲音。

After leaving Juilliard, Williams threw himself into the stand-up scenes of San Francisco and Los Angeles, building a reputation on rapid-fire delivery, wildly associative leaps of thought, and an improvisational ability no one else could replicate. His style largely defied the traditional "written bit" model of stand-up — he seemed instead to generate an entire universe of characters and voices live, in front of the audience.

1978 年，他在電視劇《Happy Days》中客串演出外星人 Mork，這個角色的即興能量太過強大，以至於他幾乎是「意外地」搶下整部劇的鏡頭。ABC 隨即為他量身打造衍生劇《Mork & Mindy》（1978–1982），劇本刻意留白，讓威廉斯能自由發揮即興表演。這部劇讓他一夜成名，成為當時美國最受矚目的電視喜劇明星，「Nanu Nanu」這句台詞也成為文化符號。

In 1978, he guest-starred as the alien Mork on Happy Days; the character's improvisational energy was so overwhelming that he essentially stole the show by accident. ABC swiftly built the spin-off Mork & Mindy (1978–1982) around him, deliberately leaving gaps in the script for Williams to improvise freely. The show made him an overnight star and America's most talked-about TV comedian of the era, with "Nanu Nanu" becoming a cultural catchphrase.

威廉斯是美國演藝界對軍隊付出最多的藝人之一。根據 USO 統計，他從 2002 年到 2013 年間參與了 六次 USO 巡演，走訪 12 個海外國家（包括伊拉克、阿富汗、巴林、科威特、德國等），直接接觸超過 89,000 名美軍官兵。這些巡演不只是單純的表演，更包含探視傷兵、與部署中的士兵進行一對一的個人互動,美國國防部特別將他的付出與「戰爭隱形傷痛」（心理創傷）的關懷連結在一起。

Williams was one of the most dedicated entertainers in support of the U.S. military. According to the USO, he completed six tours between 2002 and 2013, visiting 12 countries — including Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Germany — and reaching more than 89,000 service members directly. These trips went beyond performance: he visited wounded warriors and engaged in personal, one-on-one interactions with deployed troops. The Department of Defense specifically linked his efforts to raising awareness of the invisible wounds of war.

他長年定居於舊金山灣區的 Tiburon，也是當地社群長期支持公益與慈善活動的知名人物。

He was a longtime resident of Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a well-known local supporter of charitable and community causes.

威廉斯自 1970 年代末開始長期與酒精和藥物成癮搏鬥，成癮問題在《Mork & Mindy》爆紅時期尤其嚴重。他多次進出戒毒機構，並公開談論自己的復原歷程，將戒酒與成為父親的責任感緊密連結。這段掙扎與坦誠，也讓他後期許多角色（如《心靈點滴》《美夢成真》）帶有強烈的個人投射色彩。

Williams battled alcohol and drug addiction for decades starting in the late 1970s, with the problem worsening during the height of Mork & Mindy's fame. He entered rehab multiple times and spoke openly about his recovery, closely tying sobriety to his sense of responsibility as a father. This struggle and candor gave many of his later roles — such as in Patch Adams and What Dreams May Come — a strong personal resonance.

2014年，威廉斯的健康急速惡化。他開始出現一系列難以解釋的症狀：嚴重失眠、極度焦慮、妄想、幻覺、無法控制的顫抖與動作，以及急速惡化的記憶力。當時的醫生將這些症狀歸因於 帕金森氏症 與憂鬱症，並依此治療。

In 2014, Williams's health deteriorated rapidly. He began experiencing a cluster of inexplicable symptoms: severe insomnia, extreme anxiety, delusions, hallucinations, uncontrollable tremors and movements, and rapidly worsening memory. At the time, doctors attributed these symptoms to Parkinson's disease and depression, and treated him accordingly.

對這位即興喜劇之王而言，最殘酷的打擊發生在片場——那個能夠用從未寫過的台詞、瞬間填滿整個場景的男人，開始忘記自己的台詞。這是他人生中第一次，他做不到了。他的遺孀 Susan Schneider Williams 後來證實：他清楚知道自己出了問題，他能感覺到自己正在失去理智，卻完全無能為力阻止這個過程。

For the king of improvisation, the cruelest blow came on set — the man who could fill an entire scene with lines no one had ever written began forgetting his own lines. For the first time in his life, he simply couldn't do it. His widow, Susan Schneider Williams, later confirmed: he knew something was wrong, he could feel his mind slipping away, and he was completely powerless to stop it.

2014年8月11日，威廉斯在加州 Tiburon 家中自縊身亡，享年63歲。他的遺體隨後被火化，一場私人葬禮在舊金山舉行，僅有親近的家人與朋友出席。

On August 11, 2014, Williams died by suicide at his home in Tiburon, California, at age 63. He was cremated, and a private funeral was held in San Francisco attended only by close family and friends.

驗屍報告揭露了真相：他患有 瀰漫性路易氏體病（Diffuse Lewy Body Disease）——一種在他生前從未被正確診斷出的退化性腦部疾病。多位病理學家形容，他腦中路易氏體病變的嚴重程度，是他們所見過最嚴重的病例之一。這種疾病會同時影響認知、動作控制與情緒調節，產生的症狀與帕金森氏症、憂鬱症高度重疊，導致生前的醫師一直朝錯誤的方向尋找病因。

The autopsy revealed the truth: he had diffuse Lewy body disease — a degenerative brain disorder never correctly diagnosed during his lifetime. Multiple pathologists described the severity of the Lewy body pathology in his brain as among the worst they had ever seen. The disease affects cognition, motor control, and emotional regulation simultaneously, producing symptoms that overlap heavily with Parkinson's and depression — which is why his doctors had been searching for answers in the wrong place all along.

Susan 花了數年時間，試圖糾正媒體與大眾之間流傳的一個迷思——那個「悲傷小丑」的敘事：一個讓全世界發笑，卻獨自被生活重擔壓垮致死的男人。她堅持澄清事實並非如此。他不是被生活的重量壓垮而逐漸消逝——他的光是從內部被疾病悄悄熄滅的，而他所給出的每一個笑容，從來都不是謊言。她選擇公開這一切，只有一個目的：讓今天正經歷類似症狀、卻求助無門的其他家庭，知道該注意什麼、該向誰求助，讓這個疾病不再被誤解與污名化的迷思所掩蓋。

Susan spent years trying to correct a myth that took hold in the public imagination — the "sad clown" narrative of a man who made the world laugh while quietly being crushed to death by the weight of life. She has insisted this is not what happened. He did not fade away under the burden of living — his light was extinguished from within by a disease, and every smile he gave was never a lie. She chose to speak publicly for one clear reason: so that other families seeing similar symptoms today would know what to watch for, and so that the disease itself would no longer be obscured by a misunderstood and stigmatizing myth.