It’s been 25 years since Robin Williams stole audiences hearts with his hilarious and touching performance in Mrs. Doubtfire,
and the actors he worked with loved him just as much.
Some of his costars from the family classic — Pierce Brosnan, Mara Wilson, Lisa Jakub, and Matthew Lawrence — sat down with Today show correspondent Gadi Schwartz to look back at the 1993 movie and Williams’ lasting legacy after his death in 2014.
“One of the most powerful things for me about working with him is that he was very open and honest with me talking about his issues with addiction and depression,” said Jakub, 39, who played older sister Lydia. “That was so powerful to me at 14. I have struggles with anxiety my whole life.”
“Robin was like a guiding source. He would just all of a sudden, out of the blue look over and be like, ‘Don’t do drugs. They really messed up my brain, I’m serious. Do not do them.’ That stuck with me,” Lawrence, 38, agreed.
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The cast also looked back on the restaurant scene where Brosnan’s character is hazed by Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire for being his ex-wife Sally Field’s new boyfriend. The whole cast remembers barely keeping it together as Williams improvised hilarious lines.
“Coming here today, I went on my phone to Google the movie and the restaurant scene came up,” Brosnan, 65, says. “Robin is there as Mrs. Doubtfire and he just unleashed the most bluest, the craziest innuendos about Sally’s character.”
“You look wonderfully uncomfortable in that scene,” Wilson, 31, replies, with Brosnan admitting there was “no acting required.”
The movie also cemented Brosnan as a handsome leading man, with his dashing smile lighting up the screen. But the actor remembers the movie for a very special and touching reason.
“It kept me employed, I managed to pay the mortgage and look after my children,” he joked of the movie’s impact on his life. “But it’s really ingrained in my heart because the nature of the story, which is very empowering for young men and women or families that are divorced. I think it’s a very healing film in many ways.”
Williams died after suffering from Lewy Body Dementia, a type of brain disease that affected his thinking, memory and movement control. It’s the second-most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease.
