Actor Williams Academy Award Winner

Actor Williams may be as an academy award winner, but he is equally as a voice artist. In fact, he popularized the concept of a actor playing the voice of animated characters. His fame lies in his portrayal of the Genie in 1993 Disney blockbuster Aladdin.

He started as an actor with Happy Days where he played in just one episode and the character was such a hit that ABC started a spin off Mork and Mindy. From there, actor Williams went on to do such diverse role as that of a radio host in war torn Vietnam (Good Morning Vietnam) to a divorced father who takes the disguise of a Scottish nanny to be near his children (Mrs. Doubtfire). The later movie got him his first Oscar.

The character of Genie in the movie Aladdin was created with the actor in the mind by the directors of the movie. Actor Williams surpassed the directors faith in his abilities. In fact, he won an MTV award for his performance and only one to be given to an animated character. Robin Williams not only played the role of the Genie, but also of a mysterious merchant in the beginning but that was uncredited in the movie.

The dialogues of the Genie in the movie where ad-libbed by him as the directors allowed him to use his artistic capabilities to the fullest. He enjoyed every moment of the voice over and improvised with funny accents and mimicking many known artist. Actor Williams not only said the dialogues but sang two songs as well. The song where Genie introduces himself to Aladdin is especially funny and the other song introducing Aladdin as Prince Ali Ababwa is equally good.

Established stars had occasionally worked as voice artist, but what set Aladdin apart was the studio cashed on the star status of actor Williams to market their film. He was, in fact, given more publicity than the major casts of the film. This led to a serious fall out between the actor and the studio as he had stipulated in his contract that his name or image was not to be used in publicity of the film.

That led to the refusal by actor Williams to do the sequel The Return of Jaffar. After Disney publicly apologized for their past mistake, he returned to do the voice over once more. He replaces the dialogues of Dan Castellaneta for Aladdin and the King of Thieves. Due to problems with the studio, Robin Williams did not return to give the voice of the Genie in the video game Kingdom Hearts.

Since Robin Williams voiced Genie, it has become a trend to take established stars as voice behind a cartoon character. The marketing of such films cashed on the star power of the voice artist. Of the latest animated voice over by actor Williams, mention should be made of A.I., robots, and 2006 blockbuster Happy Feet. Wikipedia