He was best known for his comedic chops, but Robin Williams was actually a classically trained actor - literally, he was one of only twenty students accepted into the freshman class at the prestigious Juilliard School, on a full scholarship, and one of just two who was brought into the Advanced Program that year. The other budding thespian who made it that step further? Christopher Reeve, who would later make audiences across the globe believe that not only could a man fly, but he could also convincingly disguise himself as a goofy nebbish. Williams and Reeve remained close friends when the former dropped out to pursue stand-up and the latter achieved worldwide success as Superman. So of course Williams was one of the first visitors to Reeve's hospital bed when the actor suffered the horse riding accident which rendered him quadriplegic for the rest of his life. And the comic genius BFF turned up in character, as a an eccentric Russian doctor who insisted he was going to be performing a colonoscopy on Reeve. When Williams took off the surgical mask and scrubs the actor said it was the first time he had laughed since the accident, and he knew everything was going to be okay after all.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
