Robin Williams Dies Aged 63

The Oscar winning actor and stand-up comedian Robin Williams has been found dead in his Californian home. Detectives are currently treating the 63 year old's death as a suspected suicide. According to today's Guardian :

"His representative, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement that he had lately been “battling severe depression” and added: “This is a tragic and sudden loss. The family respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time.”

Williams was found asphyxiated after police were called to his home on Monday morning. A full inquest is expected. The actor had spoken repeatedly on his battles with drink, drugs and depression, and had recently been checking into rehab.

During a long and successful career, Williams had veered from the madcap energy of his cocaine fulled early roles – as the goofball, gold-hearted alien in 'Mork and Mindy', or the motor mouth radio jock in 'Good Morning Vietnam', to ultimately show a wide repertoire of style, from his much loved family comedies 'Mrs Doubtfire' and 'Jumanji', to cerebral tear jerkers 'Dead Poets Society' and 'Awakenings', to conveying a stalking psycho with chilling restraint in 'One Hour Photo'. Here at Ransom Note we'd like to remember him as tramp knight Perry in Terry Gillingham's surreal masterpiece, 'The Fisher King' –