Apple posts Robin Williams tribute page to company website

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2014
Following the addition of a special iTunes section featuring selected works of the late Robin Williams, Apple late Wednesday published a page to its website in memory of the late actor/comedian, who passed away on Monday at age 63.




The webpage, simply titled "Remembering Robin Williams," follows in the company's tradition of dedicating a small part of Apple.com to recently deceased world figures, artists and members of the Apple family.

Like previous tribute pages, the most recent coming after the death of Nelson Mandela in December last year, today's version shows a subdued black-and-white photo of Williams smiling, overlaid with his birth and death dates and a short message.
We are deeply saddened by the passing of Robin Williams. He inspired us through his passion, his generosity, and the gift of laughter. He will be greatly missed.
While Apple did not add Williams to the Apple.com landing page, the digital memorial is prominently featured in the carousel of rotating panes leading to sites for iOS 8, the Apple Store's back-to-school sale and Apple's Diversity report, among other site highlights. Williams' placeholder is constant, however, and will likely remain a permanent fixture on Apple.com until taken down.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday tweeted out the message, "Heartbroken by the news of Robin Williams' passing. He was an incomparable talent and a great human being. Rest in peace."

Coincidentally, one of the last projects Williams worked on was the inaugural commercial spot for Apple's "Your Verse" iPad campaign, for which he recited a stirring monologue from the film "Dead Poets Society." The TV commercial serves as a basis for most recent iPad ads.

"That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse," Williams quotes from Walt Whitman, adding, "What will your verse be?"

Williams is one of very few individuals to be featured in memoriam on Apple.com. Over the years, the company has paid respects to great public figures, as well as those within the Apple fold like cofounder Steve Jobs.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 62
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Let's see if Apple does the same when Montel Williams dies. Bunch of racists¡
  • Reply 2 of 62
    russellrussell Posts: 296member
    Was Robin William's verse from the movie an audio clip from the movie or did he recite it for the commercial?
  • Reply 3 of 62
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    russell wrote: »
    Was Robin William's verse from the movie an audio clip from the movie or did he recite it for the commercial?

    I think he recited the speech from Dead Poets Society for the commercial.
  • Reply 4 of 62
    russellrussell Posts: 296member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    I think he recited the speech from Dead Poets Society for the commercial.

     

    Do you have any proof to support that claim? A link will do.

  • Reply 5 of 62
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    russell wrote: »
    Do you have any proof to support that claim? A link will do.

    I did qualify my comment with "I think…" but if you look at the clip from the movie and from the commercial they sound different to me. They could have edited so much that even their tempo was altered but to me they sound like different recordings.


    [VIDEO]


    [VIDEO]
  • Reply 6 of 62
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post

    I did qualify my comment with "I think…" but if you look at the clip from the movie and from the commercial they sound different to me. They could have edited so much that even their tempo was altered but to me they sound like different recordings.



    I can hear the creaking of the desks–faintly–in the Apple commercial, so I don’t think it’s a different recording. Specifically when he lists the non-poetic occupations.

  • Reply 7 of 62

    The last movie I saw him in was Insomnia. Excellent performance. Sad to see a life end like that.

  • Reply 8 of 62
    I can hear the creaking of the desks–faintly–in the Apple commercial, so I don’t think it’s a different recording.

    Yep... and you can also tell by the overall sound quality in the commercial. It definitely doesn't sound like a normal VO booth recording. They added a lot of noise reduction from the original movie recording.

    I just overlaid the iPad commercial audio with the movie audio in an audio editor. It's a match (except the speed/pitch is slightly different)

    RIP Robin... you will be missed.
  • Reply 9 of 62

    For what reason?

  • Reply 10 of 62

    I can only wonder in sorrow why such a gifted man who gave us so much joy would take his own life. Who cares about the other stuff.

  • Reply 11 of 62
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Russell View Post

     

     

    Do you have any proof to support that claim? A link will do.


    It's called Google, "proof to support that claim", wow, just wow.

  • Reply 12 of 62
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by greatrix View Post

     

    I can only wonder in sorrow why such a gifted man who gave us so much joy would take his own life. Who cares about the other stuff.


     

    You answered your own question. You said he "gave us so much". But what did we give him? What needs did he have that weren't being met. Who made him laugh when he needed it? I think, sometimes, we forget that these super-humans are still human. Depression is a killer.

  • Reply 13 of 62
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member

    It's really sad what Robin did to himself but I strongly believe he took the cowards way out. Depression is a horrible debilitating illness but he had a support system, he had a family, he should have called emergency services. So now his children and wife are without their father because of his self centered actions, just absolutely heart wrenching. I don't think Robin or anyone who commits suicide should be publicly honored, life is the ultimate gift, an individual has no right distinguishing that light themselves. I personally know a person who has spent their entire life in and out of mental institutions because of depression, but she continues to fight for herself and her family, what Robin did is unforgivable, he is for all intensive purposes, a murderer.

     

    I know I will get a lot of backlash from my comment but in this case I really don't care. Damn it Robin, why?

  • Reply 15 of 62
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    relic wrote: »
    It's really sad what Robin did to himself but I strongly believe he took the cowards way out. Depression is a horrible debilitating illness but he had a support system, he had a family, he should have called emergency services. So now his children and wife are without their father because of his self centered actions, just absolutely heart wrenching. I don't think Robin or anyone who commits suicide should be publicly honored, life is the ultimate gift, an individual has no right distinguishing that light themselves. I personally know a person who has spent their entire life in and out of mental institutions because of depression, but she continues to fight for herself and her family, what Robin did is unforgivable, he is for all intensive purposes, a murderer.

    I know I will get a lot of backlash from my comment but in this case I really don't care. Damn it Robin, why?

    A little harsh, no? Depression is a disease. Would we say the same thing if someone had a terminal disease and committed suicide? Now I'm not condoning what he did. We don't know how deep his depression was but his drug abuse surely affected his thinking.
  • Reply 16 of 62
    Montel who? You've got to be kidding!
  • Reply 17 of 62
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    Let's see if Apple does the same when Montel Williams dies. Bunch of racists¡

     

    Apple "did the same" when Nelson Mandela died.  If you are calling Apple a "bunch of racists," you need to have your head examined.

  • Reply 18 of 62
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    relic wrote: »
    It's really sad what Robin did to himself but I strongly believe he took the cowards way out. Depression is a horrible debilitating illness but he had a support system, he had a family, he should have called emergency services. So now his children and wife are without their father because of his self centered actions, just absolutely heart wrenching. I don't think Robin or anyone who commits suicide should be publicly honored, life is the ultimate gift, an individual has no right distinguishing that light themselves. I personally know a person who has spent their entire life in and out of mental institutions because of depression, but she continues to fight for herself and her family, what Robin did is unforgivable, he is for all intensive purposes, a murderer.

    I know I will get a lot of backlash from my comment but in this case I really don't care. Damn it Robin, why?

    Perhaps it is because you don't suffer from a mental illness. If somebody is not functioning properly mentally, how can you expect him to make rational decisions? We used to have a lot more resources in our country to deal with mental illness, but over the last fifteen years many facilities have gotten rid of them or significantly downsized them.

    Robin made a decision that after 60 years of suffering with depression he thought was the best one. I doubt taking your own life is an easy thing to do.
  • Reply 19 of 62
    djsherlydjsherly Posts: 1,031member
    relic wrote: »
    It's really sad what Robin did to himself but I strongly believe he took the cowards way out. Depression is a horrible debilitating illness but he had a support system, he had a family, he should have called emergency services. So now his children and wife are without their father because of his self centered actions, just absolutely heart wrenching. I don't think Robin or anyone who commits suicide should be publicly honored, life is the ultimate gift, an individual has no right distinguishing that light themselves. I personally know a person who has spent their entire life in and out of mental institutions because of depression, but she continues to fight for herself and her family, what Robin did is unforgivable, he is for all intensive purposes, a murderer.

    I know I will get a lot of backlash from my comment but in this case I really don't care. Damn it Robin, why?

    Depression means you aren't thinking straight. From your frame of reference, your sane frame of reference all those things you say make sense. It's very easy to say he took the easy way out, but he did not think the same way you do. I used to take the same position as you. Until Recently. I did not become depressed but I went to a place where a lot of thing suddenly made sense. Don't discount the effect despair and depression has on a person. You sell them short by judging them from your own perspective. You never did stand in his shoes.
  • Reply 20 of 62
    imatimat Posts: 208member

    @Relic 

     

    I'm sorry. But I think you are wrong in so many ways.

    Depression is an illness, not something one can control. It controls you, not the other way around. And you can fight it your whole life, but sometimes it wins.

     

    Think of it like a cancer, maybe it will be easier to understand. Williams didn't kill himself. Cancer did. A cancer of the mind, an illness that you can try to cure with medicine, therapy. Or you suppress with alcohol, drugs. But that you can never fully cure.

     

    It is in the mind, the thing that makes us so unique yet so frail. The part of us we are only beginning to grasp. A logical reasoning like the one you are doing in your post shows the limits of everything.

    Our mind is not "only logic". Our mind is also something else. Life, intuition, creativity. We are not only a bunch of chemical reactions on feet. Sometimes there's no "cause and effect" in the logic sense. Depression, as all mind illnesses, doesn't adhere to the strict parameters of logic, nor does creativity.

     

    We cannot explain it, as hard as we try.

     

    Curiously, in one movie, for which he received an Oscar, there's an interesting explanation of what "genius" is.

     

     

     

    Williams "knew how to play".

     

    The mind is still an uncharted territory. Please do not try to reduce it to pure rational reasoning.

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