Fans just realized Robin Williams’ final on-screen words was accidentally the perfect goodbye
The 'Good Will Hunting' actor's charismatic words are resounding even over a decade after his passing.
Actor and comedian Robin Williams touched hearts with his art and words before he passed away in 2014. The “Patch Adams” actor suffered from Lewy Body Dementia, a type of brain disorder, and lost his life to suicide, leaving the world with a void. With over a decade gone by, we still remember him for his charisma and kindness, and his final on-screen words exhibited that perfectly in “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” per Parade. In his character as Theodore Roosevelt in the film, he shared a profound and reflective dialogue that perfectly captured a goodbye we never saw coming.
The Mayo Clinic claims Lewy Body Dementia comes after Alzheimer’s and affects thinking, functioning, memory, and so on. It can cause tremors, depression, hallucinations, and several other symptoms. Williams, who had struggled with mental health for the greater part of his life, put on a brave face for the world, but his last lines, shared by Hulu on Facebook, feel like a personal goodbye message to fans.
It captures Ben Stiller, the main character, speaking to Williams, who was posing as Roosevelt. After an adventurous night where several museum artefacts came to life, Stiller reveals that he is hesitant about what tomorrow will bring — how it would never hold a candle to that night. “I have no idea what I’m going to do tomorrow,” he told Williams. “How exciting,” Williams responded, changing his perception from worry to hope. He then hopped onto his horse, back into position to be turned back into stone, and uttered something priceless — “Smile, my boy, it’s sunrise.”
In the film, it was bittersweet because Stiller had to let go of that night, the people and creatures he met, and all the fun he had. He wouldn’t get to see Roosevelt or “Teddy,” as he called him, from his adventurous night. However, the goodbye also meant a new morning, a new beginning, a new possibility. Though Stiller had every right to be upset about the night being over, he had so much to take back into this new “sunrise” with him. And in all his wisdom, Williams knew that and so asked him to “smile” and find relief and comfort in that truth. Connecting this reflection to his passing, it couldn’t be more realistically touching. In fact, Williams' real last words to his wife also reflect a similar tone of love and perseverance. Speaking to Good Morning America, Susan Williams shared, “I was getting in bed, and he came in the room a couple of times… and he said, ‘Goodnight, my love,' And then he came back again. He came out with his iPad, and he looked like he had something to do. And that was like, ‘I think he’s getting better.’ And then he said, ‘Goodnight, goodnight.’ That was the last.”
A simple phrase, 5 words, feels exactly like something Williams would want to say before he bid farewell to the world. To leave a bittersweet memory, yet a thriving hope of possibility. A woman who goes by u/GraboidGirl shared the clip on Reddit, and her reaction is similar to what many of us are feeling. “He knew he was dying, maybe had made concepts of a plan for his end, and wanted this to be the final thing he was ever remembered for. Which, sadly, knowing what we know now, is an incredibly noble thing for him to have done. Even in death, he gave us one last hope. That magnificent mountain of a man,” she wrote.
It has us in a chokehold that this beauty of a man would want, in all his suffering, to still leave the world a better place, to still leave with something good to say. “It was really quite beautiful seeing Robin in his last moments like this. We could all only wish to go out in such style,” the post concluded. Amanda Nies wrote, “It's been 10 years, and it still hurts my heart that he passed. One of the most celebrated comedians and genuinely kind human beings we had to grace our lives.” Alicia Hull added, “He made the world not feel as awful.”
"Smile, my boy. It's sunrise." are Robin Williams last words on screen and you can tell he knew they would be
byu/GraboidGirl inFIlm
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