10 Best Robin Williams Performances Of All Time
Good Will Hunting, Good Morning Vietnam, Insomnia - Robin Williams was always amazing.
When Robin Williams passed away in 2014, the world lost one of its greatest entertainers. A one-of-a-kind comedian who performed stand-up with unrivalled ferocity, his journey from lovable funny-man to one of Hollywood's greatest dramatic actors is truly a tale for the ages.
Simply put, Williams could make you cry whether he was covering his face in pie or telling a devastating story of personal loss, and he moved between genres with formidable ease.
Of course, he had his missteps (Jack, Old Dogs), but all told Robin Williams had a career unlike any other, beloved by young and old alike and relentlessly hardworking to boot.
For this list, we're taking a trip through the actor's best on-screen performances, from his game-changing TV debut to his work with Hollywood heavyweights like Christopher Nolan and Peter Weir.
Whether tickling the funny-bone, breaking hearts or being outright terrifying, these 10 performances show an actor who deserves to be seen as one of the all-time greats of the industry, and serve as a reminder of just how missed Robin Williams will forever be.
10. Walter Finch - Insomnia (2002)
After blowing everyone away with his second feature film Memento, Christopher Nolan returned to the directing chair with Insomnia, a terrifying psychological thriller starring Robin Williams as murder suspect Walter Finch, and Al Pacino as the troubled detective on his tail.
In the film, Finch is presented as a small-town crime writer, whose involvement in the murder of his fan Kay (Crystal Lowe) seems unlikely given his unassuming demeaner.
The brilliance of Williams' performance lies in how perfectly it contrasts Pacino's increasingly paranoid turn as a detective losing his mind and his integrity. Williams plays Finch straight and ordinary, but as the investigation heats up, his unflappable persona gives way to something more sinister and dangerously mysterious than expected.
A performance in subtly, Williams' time as Finch proved the actor could play the villain just as well as he could pull-off the lovable hero.