The father of three (Zachary, Zelda and Cody) credited his children for helping him commit to sobriety. "If I had a choice to erase from my life something, I would leave all the memories of my children," he said in 2006, "even the memories when they misbehave because it is still extraordinary."
Three years after Mrs. Doubtfire, Williams once again helped bring drag to the big screen in 1996's dazzling The Birdcage, a remake of the 1978 La Cage aux Folles. Contrasting his performance with costar Nathan Lane's, PEOPLE's critic pointed out his layered performance, writing, "Williams, on the other hand, is unusually sensitive. He lets a lot of bruised hurt seep through the comic froth."
Williams took an unusual turn for the dramatic, playing Matt Damon's therapist in 1997's Good Will Hunting, and Hollywood noticed, rewarding him with an Oscar. "It's the same sense I had on Dead Poets Society, that there was something really powerful there," he told Boston magazine in 2013. "I just knew it was a really beautiful piece of writing that's worth doing, getting it out there. That alone, you gotta say, 'I gotta take the shot.'"
The actor received the 2005 Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globes, cracking up the crowd with impressions during his acceptance speech. But he also got serious for just a second, thanking the Hollywood Foreign Press for recognizing comedy and thanking his wife Marsha and three children for standing by him throughout his career.
After 20 years of sobriety, Williams re-entered rehab in August 2006, seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. That October, he spoke to Good Morning America about his addiction. "There's a voice and it's a little quiet voice that goes, 'Jump,'" he explained. "That same voice that goes, 'Just one.' And the idea of just one for someone who has no tolerance for it, that's not the possibility."
Following his role in 2009's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Williams embarked on a well-received stand-up tour and, in 2011, made his Broadway debut in the drama Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. "With Robin, we see all that work happening right before our eyes, in a much faster way than I think is humanly possible," the play's writer, Rajiv Joseph, told New York magazine.
Williams married his third wife, Susan Schneider, in Napa Valley, California, in October 2011. The two met before the actor underwent heart surgery in 2009, and Schneider, a graphic designer, reportedly helped nurse the star back to health following his procedure.
On the evening of Aug. 11, 2014, news broke that the actor died of an apparent suicide at age 63. He'd checked back into rehab in July to "fine-tune and focus on his continued commitment," according to his rep, but as Williams told Good Morning America in 2006, addiction never ends. "It's just there," he said. "It lays in wait for the time when you think, 'It's fine now, I'm OK.' Then, the next thing you know, it's not OK."
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