Robin Williams touched a lot of people throughout his successful career, and Ethan Hawke is one of them.
The late comedian's Dead Poets Society co-star was lucky enough to become acquainted with Williams' magic at an early age, so it comes as no surprise that the recent tragedy struck him hard.
"I feel like there's an immediate sadness that is pervasive in the whole community when somebody who made all of us so happy reveals themselves to have been in tremendous personal pain," Hawke said of Williams' death on Q with Jian Ghomeshi. "You know, that the happiness wasn't reciprocal. That we couldn't make him happy. I think that somehow rings to all of us."
After recalling "this guy got me my first agent," and crediting Robin for a lot of his success, Hawke explained that, more importantly, Williams was the one who showed him the "thrill" that came with acting.
"I was 18 years old, I'd always kinda loved acting. It was kinda interesting—the way all kids kinda like to act. It was something. But Robin got in front of the class, we were shooting a scene, and he wrote, 'I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world.' That was a scene that I was supposed to read a poem in front of the class and it was the first time in my life I have experienced the thrill of acting. The thrill of losing yourself," he said.
But even at a young age, Ethan knew the celeb was some sort of agony going on behind closed doors.
"The other truth is, even at 18, it was obvious he was in a tremendous amount of pain. I don't know to what extent his whole life…anybody who was watching knew. You know, a lot of people weren't watching because he was so funny and so light, but there was a very—I think why he moved us all—there's a very serious mind there. He was also so sentimental, just this big sensitive heart."
Watch the clip to hear more.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).