With his manic versatility, comedic genius Robin Williams has defined comedy for the last three decades of the twentieth century. Whether expressing himself as a stand-up comic or an animated genie or a cross-dressing nanny, he is without equal in the field of American comedy. Much more than a comedian, however, some of his finest work has been in dramatic film roles to which he has brought humanity and warmth to a cast of characters ranging from a crazed widower in The Fisher King (1991) to a sad but optimistic psychiatrist in 1997's Good Will Hunting, which garnered an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Williams was born July 21, 1952, in Chicago, Illinois, to a father who was a Ford company executive and a mother who was a former model engaged in charity work. While both parents had sons by previous marriages, Williams essentially grew up...