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Robin Williams Had a Super Famous College Roommate With a Tragic Story

The comedian’s son once described the pair as ‘brothers from another mother’

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Robin Williams started honing his craft at the Juilliard School in New York City in 1973. The future comedy legend was one of just two students to be accepted by John Houseman into the school’s Advanced Program that year. His other lucky classmate was an aspiring young actor named Christopher Reeve, who was also Williams’s roommate. The pair struck up a lifelong friendship during their time at the prestigious school and were once described by Williams’s son, Zak, as “brothers from another mother.”

Although Williams and Reeve were total opposites, their differences only served to draw them together. They spent a lot of time together at Juilliard and stood by each other in times of need. Williams later recalled that his roommate was “literally feeding” him back then because he didn’t have money to buy his own food. Rumor has it they even made a pact in those days, saying that whichever one of them made it as an actor first would help out the other. 

Luckily, neither of them required the financial assistance because by the time 1978 came around, they’d both landed major, career-defining roles that would launch them into superstardom: Williams playing the lead on TV’s Mork & Mindy, and Reeves as the titular protagonist in that year’s Superman. The two remained friends after their respective successes, with Reeve eventually becoming the godfather to Williams’s son. And when Williams won the award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Program at the 5th Annual People’s Choice Awards, it was Reeve who presented the trophy to his old pal:

Years later, after Reeve was paralyzed as a result of a horse riding accident, Williams was the first person to show up at the hospital. Posing as a Russian proctologist, Williams joked, “If you don’t mind, I’m going to have to put on a rubber glove and examine your internal organs. Oh, look at the size of this baby!” Reeve had been depressed and hadn’t laughed since the devastating injury, but Williams’s sense of humor helped change his mindset. “I knew then: if I could laugh, I could live,” said Reeve.

While accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes the year following Reeve’s death, Williams dedicated the award to his former roommate, saying, “May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest, sweet prince.” Take a look below.

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