(CNN) -- By tradition, Drama is represented by two masks: the happy face of the comic muse Thalia and her sad counterpart, the tragic muse Melpomene.

If Drama were Robin Williams, you'd need a million more.

He was a mask of howling laughter, a mask of wide-eyed innocence. A sneer. A frown. Even, at times, a blank.

Comedic actor Robin Williams dies

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Robin Williams 'lit up the room'

If it seemed like we knew what went on behind the many masks, it was because Williams' quicksilver mind and boundless talent possessed enough energy to blow them right off his face. He WAS Mork. He WAS Adrian Cronauer of "Good Morning, Vietnam." He WAS Patch Adams, and "Aladdin's" genie, and Mrs. Doubtfire.

But he was also the restrained Garp in "The World According to Garp," and the creepy Seymour Parrish in "One Hour Photo," and the firm but compassionate Sean Maguire in "Good Will Hunting," the performance that won him an Oscar.

It was that side of Williams -- something raw and vulnerable, not something manic and boisterous -- that made you wonder: who was he when he took off the mask?

On Monday, Williams was found dead in his home in Tiburon, California. He was 63. Coroner investigators suspect "the death to be a suicide due to asphyxia," according to a statement from the Marin County, California, Sheriff's Office.

It's a cliché, of course, the clown who laughs on the outside while crying -- or dying -- on the inside. It's Pavarotti's Pagliacci and Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp; Willy Wonka and Laurence Olivier's Archie Rice.

Show business history is filled with stories of comic kings who fought against depression and substance abuse, not always successfully. Jonathan Winters, Williams' hero, was institutionalized for a time. The effortless Dick Van Dyke once said he was "mostly drunk for 15 years." John Belushi and Chris Farley died of overdoses.

Mitch Hedberg, Freddie Prinze, Richard Jeni -- all funny men, all gone before their time.

There's no question that comedy can be a form of escape -- and recognition. Richard Pryor, one of the most brilliant comedians who ever strode on stage, was raised in a brothel, married multiple times, struggled with demons both societal and personal. He was ruthless -- especially on himself.

Yet he was scathingly, mercilessly funny. It was comedy that drew blood, comedy as catharsis.

Chris Farley, on the other hand, grew up in a close-knit, comfortable clan -- but also sometimes seemed to be running from something. His immersion in Matt Foley, the divorced motivational speaker who lived in a "van down by the river," was both hilarious and a little scary.

"We lose at least one great comic to suicide or ODs every year," tweeted comedian Michael Ian Black on Monday. "Our jobs are to communicate, but we seem to not know how to ask for help."

Williams, the son of an auto company executive and a model, was remarkably open about his own battles. He was a chubby, bullied child who found he could make others laugh. Later, on talk shows, he could be outrageously stream-of-consciousness, a bicycle careening down a hill without any brakes -- and, just as quickly, brutally honest, admitting to sadnesses and abuses and mistakes.

"His bearing is intensely Zen and almost mournful, and when he's not putting on voices he speaks in a low, tremulous baritone -- as if on the verge of tears -- that would work very well if he were delivering a funeral eulogy," wrote Decca Aitkenhead, who interviewed him for the UK Guardian in 2010.

Inevitably, he'd make light of the problem -- the great line, "Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you make too much money," is his -- but underneath there was a sense of a man wrestling with demons, a man wishing to put on another mask in an attempt to scare them away. It is a mask that perhaps only the most blameless of us have never tried on.

But if it's another cliché that comedians hide anger under all those laughs, Williams didn't fit the stereotype. With him, what was underneath was compassion.

It showed in his performances, notably the therapist in "Good Will Hunting." It showed in his participation in such causes as Comic Relief, which raised money for the homeless, and in his USO tours, entertaining troops in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.

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He'd had open-heart surgery several years ago, and it made him reflect on mortality.

"It breaks through your barrier, you've literally cracked the armor. And you've got no choice, it literally breaks you open," he told the Guardian.

Sure, there were performances in which he seemed less than kind -- whether on screen, as a villain in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," or in his real life, with messy divorces that he described, with perhaps a touch of bitterness, as "ripping your heart out through your wallet."

Given all that, who wouldn't want to put on Thalia's mask, with laughter riding across the audience in waves, approval on demand, smiles all around? Robin Williams wore it well.

It's sad that, in the end, he exited with Melpomene.

羅賓·威廉姆斯和喜劇的黑暗面
由托德·利奧波德，美國有線電視新聞網
2014年8月12日 - 更新1219 GMT（2019 HKT）

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新聞提要
雖然被廣泛認為是活著的最有趣的人之一，威廉斯是抑鬱症作鬥爭
許多漫畫俗稱有陰暗的一面
“我們每年損失至少有一個偉大的喜劇自殺或ODS，”啾啾喜劇演員邁克爾·伊恩布萊克
（CNN）漫畫MUSE塔利亞和她同行傷心，悲慘的繆斯女神Melpomene的笑臉： -按照傳統，戲劇由兩個面具代表。
如果劇情是羅賓·威廉姆斯，你需要一百萬以上。
他嚎叫的笑聲中，大眼睛的純真面具的面具。à冷笑。皺眉頭。甚至，有時候，一個空白。
喜劇演員羅賓·威廉斯去世 喜劇演員羅賓·威廉斯去世
組圖：人，我們在2014年失去了 組圖：人，我們在2014年失去了
羅賓·威廉斯“照亮了房間的
如果這似乎是我們知道了什麼對許多面具的背後，是因為威廉姆斯的水銀頭腦和無邊的人才具有足夠的能量來打擊他們馬上他的臉。他是莫克。他是阿德里安Cronauer的“早安，越南”。他是補丁亞當斯和“阿拉丁”精靈，和Doubtfire夫人。
但他也克制卡普在“世界加普”和令人毛骨悚然的西摩·帕里什在“一小時照片”，並堅定而富有同情心的肖恩·馬奎爾在“心靈捕手”，也為他贏得了奧斯卡獎的性能。
這是威廉姆斯的那一邊 - 這是原始和脆弱，不是狂躁和熱鬧的 - 這讓你懷疑：他是誰時，他摘下了面具？

週一，威廉姆斯被發現死在他的家在Tiburon的加利福尼亞州。他是63驗屍官調查人員懷疑“死亡是自殺，由於窒息，”根據來自加州馬林縣，警長辦公室的聲明。
這是一個老生常談，當然，誰笑在外面一邊哭的小丑-或瀕臨死亡-在裡面。這是帕瓦羅蒂的丑角和查理·卓別林的小流浪漢 ; 威利·旺卡和勞倫斯·奧利弗的阿奇米飯。
演藝界的歷史充滿了誰反抗憂鬱和藥物濫用，並不總是成功的喜劇天王的故事。喬納森·溫特斯，威廉姆斯的英雄，被制度化了一段時間。在輕鬆的迪克·範·戴克曾經說他是“大多是喝醉了15年。” 約翰·貝魯西和克里斯·法利死於過量的。
米奇赫貝格，弗雷迪Prinze，理查德·傑尼 - 所有有趣的人，他們的時間之前，都走了。
毫無疑問，喜劇片可以越獄的一種形式 - 和認可。理查德·普賴爾，最輝煌的喜劇演員誰曾經大步登台之一，在妓院中長大，結婚多次，掙扎與惡魔兩種社會和個人。他是無情的 - 尤其是在自己身上。
然而，他尖刻，毫不留情地搞笑。這是喜劇抽血，喜劇的宣洩。
克里斯·法利，在另一方面，成長於一個聯繫緊密的，舒適的氏族-但有時也似乎是從一些運行。他在馬特福利浸泡，誰住在一個離過婚的激勵人心的演說“麵包車上下來的河流，”既搞笑又有點嚇人。
“ 我們失去了至少有一個偉大的喜劇自殺或的OD每年，“週一在推特喜劇演員邁克爾·伊恩布萊克。“我們的工作是溝通，但我們似乎不知道如何尋求幫助。”
威廉斯的汽車公司高管和模型的兒子，是他自己的戰鬥非常開放。他是誰發現他可以讓別人笑一個胖乎乎的，好欺負的孩子。後來，上談話節目，他可能是悍然流的意識，自行車倒向下山，沒有任何剎車 - 而且，就像快，敢說真話，承認了sadnesses和濫用和錯誤。
“他的關係是緊張禪，幾乎悲傷，而當他不把上的聲音，他說在低，顫抖的男中音-彷彿眼泛淚光-這將很好地工作，如果他提供了一個葬禮悼詞”寫迪卡Aitkenhead，誰採訪他的英國的衛報，2010年。
不可避免的是，他會輕視這個問題的 - 偉大的線路，“可卡因是告訴你，你賺太多的錢，上帝的方式，”是他的 - 但骨子裡有一個人的感覺與惡魔搏鬥中，男人希望放在另一口罩，企圖把他們嚇跑。這，也許只有最無辜的我們從來沒有嘗試過的口罩。
但如果它是另一個老生常談的喜劇演員所有這些笑下隱藏的憤怒，威廉姆斯沒有適合的刻板印象。有了他，究竟是什麼下面是同情。
這表明在他的表演，特別是在治療“心靈捕手”。這表明他在等原因造成的Comic Relief，其中募集資金為無家可歸者的參與，並在他的USO之旅，在科威特，阿富汗和伊拉克娛樂的部隊。
名人記得羅賓·威廉姆斯
他喝了心臟手術，幾年前，這讓他反思死亡率。
“它突破了你的障礙，你從字面上破解裝甲，而你已經沒有選擇，它確實打破你打開，”他告訴衛報。
當然，也有演出，他似乎不到那種 - 無論是在屏幕上，作為一個惡棍“法律與秩序：特殊受害者”，或者在他的現實生活中，與他描述的，也許淡淡的雜亂離婚苦，為“翻錄你的心臟出通過你的錢包。”
鑑於這一切，誰不希望把塔利亞的面具，用笑聲騎跨觀眾一波接一波，審批點播，總是面帶微笑在嗎？羅賓·威廉斯穿著很好。
這是可悲的是，到了最後，他退出了Melpomene。