Robin Williams was addicted to 'tooth-rotting sentimentality'

Veteran critic Barry Norman has sparked anger among film fans after claiming Robin Williams starred in a 'plenitude' of bad movies and was addicted to 'saccharine, tooth-rotting sentimentality'.

In a column for the Radio Times, Norman said the much-loved late actor's talent 'could sometimes be spread so thinly as to be almost invisible'.

The 80-year-old writer, who presented the BBC's Film programme until Jonathan Ross replaced him in 1998, also said the Oscar-winner's legacy as a film actor would suffer.

But fans of the star responded by saying Norman's comments were 'mean-spirited' and 'unsympathetic'.

On Twitter, Mike Griffin said: 'Barry Norman, for what must be the millionth time, is wrong. Again.'

Piano teacher Chris said: 'I think that's views on Robin are mean-spirited. I know who I'd rather watch.' 

Williams, who died last week, won the best supporting actor Oscar for the 1997 film Good Will Hunting and was nominated three further times.

He is best known for his roles in Mrs Doubtfire, Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society The Fisher Kings, One Hour Photo and the TV comedy series Mork & Mindy.

In his column, described as an 'honest tribute', Norman wrote: 'It's hard to know what to make of Robin Williams.

'Admiration is called for, but also sadness, not just for his tragic death but for an enormous talent which, if not exactly unfulfilled, could sometimes be spread so thinly as to be almost invisible.

'Every actor makes bad films occasionally but what was remarkable about Williams was not that he was so good in the good ones but that he was so very bad in the bad ones.

 

'He made no secret of his addiction to drugs and alcohol but there was another addiction, which he never admitted but which became increasingly evident in his own work – to saccharine, tooth-rotting sentimentality.

'Were the bad films made when drink or drugs played their part? You might also ask, what caused a man of such gifts to rely so heavily on drink and drugs?'

Archive: A montage of Robin Williams' best movies

Norman said Williams's role as the nanny in Mrs Doubtfire was 'uproarious Williams', but not his role as the father

'An enormous talent': Robin Williams in the 1987 film Good Morning Vietnam

Norman's comments are in his column published in this month's edition of the Radio Times

Speaking about one of the actor's best-loved roles in Mrs Doubtfire, Norman said. 'The nanny is good, uproarious Williams; the father, all tearful sentimentality, is the bad one.' 

On the 1998 film What Dreams May Come, Norman said: 'It was unrelentingly weepy and he was so cringe-inducing that if it were the only Williams film you ever saw, you would say, with confidence, that he would never make an actor.'

Williams was found dead in his home at the age of 63 and is survived by his three children and third wife Susan.

Flowers and tributes placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star for late actor Robin Williams in Hollywood, California

Police said he died of asphyxia due to hanging.

His wife later said her husband had been sober but "not yet ready to share publicly" his struggles with Parkinson's.

She added that he had also been suffering from anxiety and depression.

He added: 'I only met Williams once and then briefly at some film function. He was warm, charming, and funny, and I think everyone found him so.

'Certainly I never heard anyone badmouth him. If we forgive the bad films he is a great loss, because, given the right vehicle, he still had so much to offer.'