- Sam Neill starred alongside Robin Williams in the 1999 film Bicentennial Man
- Neill said Williams has a magnetic personality that he can turn on and off
- He said he could sense that deep down, Williams was deeply saddened
Robin Williams’ co-star Sam Neill recalled the comedian as one of the most depressed and lonely people he’d ever met in an intimate new memoir.
Neill, who starred opposite Williams in the 1999 film Bicentennial Man, wrote in his upcoming book Did I Ever Tell You This? that the pair would have “great conversations” during filming and described Williams’ magnetic personality.
The Jurassic Park star said while the prolific comedian is “irresistible, outrageous, irrepressible, hilariously funny,” those are traits PEOPLE said he can turn on and off.
Neill, 75, said he could “sense the dark space inside Williams” and said the actor was “the saddest person I’ve ever met”.
More than ten years after the two appeared on screen together, Williams died by suicide at the age of 63 during a severe bout of his ongoing depression.
Robin Williams died by suicide in 2014 at the age of 63 after years of depression. Williams (left) and Sam Neil appear on the set of the 1999 film Bicentennial Man
In his memoir, Neill said he and Williams “discussed this and that, sometimes even the work we had to do.”
“Fun stuff just gushed out of him. And all were sewn, and when all were sewn, you could see that Robin was happy,” Neill wrote, “as soon as he threw open the door, it was his turn.”
But despite his outwardly exuberant and happy looks, Neill said he could say Williams was “heartbrokenly lonely and deeply depressed.”
“He was famous, he was rich, people loved him, great kids – the world was his oyster,” Neil said in his memoir.
“Yet I felt sorry for him more than I can express. He was the loneliest man on a lonely planet.’
After Williams’ suicide, officials said “he had been battling severe depression lately.”
He had recently been misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but an autopsy after his death revealed he had Lewy body dementia. In addition to inhibiting physical movement, the condition can worsen depression and cause severe mental symptoms.
Sam Neill wrote his memoir while battling blood cancer, which he has since surpassed with Sam Neill’s memoir. He said writing helped him get through cancer treatment
Neill’s memoir comes as he revealed he was diagnosed with stage three blood cancer, a diagnosis he has since given up but is still receiving treatment.
He told The Guardian he wrote it during his treatment and was unable to work.
“I had nothing to do,” he said. “And I’m used to working. i love working I like going to work. I love being with people every day and enjoying human company and friendship and all those things. And suddenly I was deprived of it. And I thought, ‘What should I do?’
“I realized that it actually gave me a reason to live, and I would go to bed thinking I’m going to write about it tomorrow… that’s going to entertain me.”
“It was really a lifesaver because I couldn’t have gone through this if I had nothing to do.”
During the interview, he said he’s not afraid of death, but that it would be “annoying” to miss out on the rest of his life.
“I’m not scared of dying, but it would upset me,” Neill said. “Because I’d really like to have another decade or two, you know? We’ve built all these beautiful patios, we have these olive trees and cypresses, and I want to be there to see how it all matures. And I have my dear little grandchildren. I want to see them grow up. But as for the dying? I do not care at all.’