Christopher Reeve's son reveals Robin Williams' joke that made him laugh for the first time after paralysis
Christopher Reeve’s son has reflected on how Robin Williams played a character to get his father laughing after his accident.
Christopher Reeve is remembered as the most iconic iteration of DC Comics' man of steel, Superman - but the world was left stunned when they learnt of his accident.
In 1995, an accident saw Reeve fall from his horse and resulted in the actor becoming paralyzed from the neck down. He would go on to die at the age of just 52 in 2004.
Robin Williams, who had cemented himself as one of the funniest men in Hollywood, was the first person to meet with Reeve after the accident.
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Speaking to PEOPLE magazine, Reeve’s son, William, opened up about the special bond his dad and Williams had, noting that the pair were so close they used to refer to one another as ‘brother’.
He chose to speak to the outlet ahead of the release of the documentary film on his late father’s life, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.
He said: “Robin was dad’s best friend, and you show up for your friends. Our dad and Robin had a singular bond.
“They had a friendship that someone should make a movie about, but what shone through in that was just their love and respect for each other, and that never wavered.
“No one was better at showing up with love and with the right dose of humor than Robin Williams and his wife Marsha, who we call our fairy godmother. We are still so incredibly close with her.”
As you can imagine, it can be difficult to keep spirits high after such a dramatic accident, but Williams was able to force Reeve's first outburst of laughter since the accident, according to his son.
Visiting in the hospital, Williams pretended to be a Russian proctologist. For those not versed in the terminology, a proctologist is a doctor that specializes in colon and rectal issues.
Nothing says friendship like your best buddy walking in and insisting they need to take a look at your a*s.
Reeve previously commented on the first time he met Williams in his 1998 memoir, Still Me, and revealed just outlandish the comedian and actor seemed.
“He wore tie-dyed shirts with tracksuit bottoms and talked a mile a minute,” Reeve wrote.
“He was like an untied balloon that had been inflated and immediately released. I watched in awe as he virtually caromed off the walls of the classrooms and hallways. To say that he was ‘on’ would be a major understatement.”
Williams tragically died from suicide in 2014 at the age of 63.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story has already premiered at the Sundance film festival and is set to be released in select theatres on September 21.
Topics: Celebrity, Robin Williams
Gerrard Kaonga