Why Glenn Close Claims Christopher Reeve Could Have Saved Robin Williams
In a heart-wrenching 2024 documentary about the life of "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve, Glenn Close weighed in on the late icon's relationship with comedian Robin Williams. Reeve's friendship with Williams, who died by suicide in 2014, is a noteworthy element of "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story," as the film depicts their unending bond through their time as Juilliard roommates and their subsequent Hollywood success.
Reeve's 1995 horse-riding accident was also a pivotal moment in their friendship, with the documentary noting that Robins was a particularly loyal ally following the paralyzing injury. When Reeve died in 2004 as a result of heart failure, Robins was deeply affected by the loss of his friend. "I've always thought if Chris was still around, then Robin would still be alive," Close said in the documentary.
This is a sentiment that the "Fatal Attraction" actor also shared during a speech at the 2017 Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation's "A Magical Evening" Gala, where she talked about the touching connection between the two show business icons. "Their friendship, their connection, is the stuff of legend," Close said, per ET. "It not only endured, but became a life-giving force sustaining them both."
Close witnessed the duo's close friendship
As a fellow actor, Glenn Close was a first-hand witness to the tight-knit bond between Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve. She shared the details of this during her 2017 speech, explaining that she saw the two together while filming with Williams on Fishers Island for the movie "The World According to Garp."
"On Friday evenings, Chris would literally swoop in, piloting his own plane, scoop Robin up, and away they would fly for the weekend," Close recalled, adding that the comedian would be back by Sunday afternoon, looking visibly ruffled from the duo's weekend antics. "They were on top of the world. They were living the kind of fast and crazy life that our business can hand to you if you become a wildly famous phenomenon, practically overnight." Close believes that this decades-long friendship would've kept Robins alive if Reeve hadn't passed away in 2004.
While we know that the two had a significant bond, it's important to note that Williams was suffering from undiagnosed Diffuse Lewy Body Dementia or Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) at the time of his death. Susan Schneider, Williams' wife, believes it was this rare brain condition that ultimately led to her husband's suicide. "It was not depression that killed Robin," she told People in 2015. "Depression was one of, let's call it, 50 symptoms, and it was a small one."
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Williams potentially saved Reeve's life
We will never know what could have been if Christopher Reeve had survived his 2004 heart attack, but we do know that Robin Williams played an important, possibly life-changing role in the "Somewhere in Time" actor's life after his horse riding accident. In his 1998 memoir, titled "Still Me," Reeve recounts his paralyzing accident and its aftermath, detailing the uncertainty of the days in the hospital leading up to his initial operation.
"The door flew open, and in hurried a squat fellow with a blue scrub hat and a yellow surgical gown and glasses, speaking in a Russian accent," Reeve recounted. "He announced that he was my proctologist and that he had to examine me immediately. My first reaction was that either I was on way too many drugs or I was in fact brain damaged. But it was Robin Williams."
Reeve went on to share that the Williams' bit caused him to laugh for the first time since the accident, something that was a real relief for him in the face of a grim, life-and-death situation. "My old friend had helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay," he wrote. "It's going to be an enormous challenge, but I can still laugh, and there's still some joy."