Often it was a sympathetic ear; on other occasions it involved appearing in a friend’s struggling TV show, or a little cash to tide over a broke comedian.
Once, he secretly bought an air conditioning system for a baking-hot school gym. And in the small town where he lived, he would quietly offer to pay for rehab for struggling addicts who had just walked into his recovery group.
Robin Williams will be remembered for many things, but friends had long wondered at his extraordinary kindness. Favours were never denied; nothing was ever expected in return, they say. Now, though, those acts are tinged with a poignancy — a deep regret among those who knew him that he resisted asking for help for himself.
“Robin gave