Fans mourn death of Robin Williams on Hollywood Walk of Fame

A day after Robin Williams was found dead in his Bay Area home, flowers, candles and memorabilia have accumulated on the Oscar-winning actor’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as fans grapple with the news.

Tourists left messages on paper, magazine covers with his face or pictures of Williams from the innumerable charity events he attended over the years.

Among those paying their respects was Christopher Mulrooney, an Iraq War veteran who met Williams during a USO tour in 2003.

“That five minutes I got to know him, I felt like I was a part of his family,” Mulrooney told reporters while holding a picture of himself with Williams. “It was just a few days from the holidays, everyone was kind of bummed and depressed … the great news that we had was that we got Saddam [Hussein] and next thing you know we have Robin Williams on our base.”

Hollywood’s legendary comedy clubs paid respects to the comic legend on their marquees.

“Robin Williams – Rest in Peace – Make God Laugh,” read the message atop the Laugh Factory, where the audience gave him a posthumous standing ovation, according to NBC Los Angeles. The Improv called him a legend and the Comedy Store featured the phrase: “RIP Robin Williams.”

In Williams’ Tiburon neighborhood north of San Francisco, the news was just sinking in Monday.

Kelly Cook, 50, who lives just down the street, got a call from her mother while she was at work at a Sausalito educational company. She went to the store, chose orange gerbera daisies and was the first to drop a bouquet at the gate.

Williams and his family were Cook’s neighbors before they moved two blocks down the way. She called him “brilliant,” as well as “really quiet and private.” An avid cyclist, he was often seen riding the Paradise loop, which hugs the Tiburon peninsula.

“It’s just so sad when depression takes someone like that,” Cook said, sharing that her good friend had also committed suicide.

The single-story home with a Spanish tile roof backs onto stunning views of San Francisco Bay. On Monday, a Land Rover and Lexus SUV sat parked in front of the three-car garage.

Sandy Kleiman and her daughter, Sarah, 19, moved to the neighborhood just a few months ago and had little contact with Williams, only seeing him come and go. Monday the pair stood back and quietly watched the media hubbub.

Kleiman, as it happens, had the privilege of sharing a meal with Williams about three decades ago in Los Angeles, when she was pursuing acting. “It was probably the funniest evening I’ve spent in my life,” she said. “It’s a loss.”

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