During his days as a student, Robin Williams wasn’t the class clown many thought he was.
“No, no, I was president of the class,” he told the Detroit Free Press in 1996. “I loved school, maybe too much really. I was summa cum laude in high school. I was driven that way. I can’t say it was easy to fit in. I just went out of my way to fit in. It was a private boys school, Detroit Country Day, and I played soccer. I was on the wrestling team. Mr. All-Around, you know?”
Williams’ high school sounded a lot like the Welton Academy in “Dead Poets Society.”
“I was getting pushed around a lot,” Williams revealed to The Oklahoman in 1991. “Not only was there like physical bullying, but there was intellectual bullying going on. It made me toughen up, but it also made me pull back a lot. I had a certain reticence about dealing with people. Through comedy, I found a way to bridge the gap …”
It wasn’t until he moved to Larkspur, California, that he joined the drama club and discovered his talent as an actor.
Williams took his own life in his California home on Monday. He was 63.
