Julliard School of Performing Arts NYC Manhattan

Im just found out this,

“In 1973, Robin Williams ; actor, (Chicago IL 1951-California 2014) attained a full scholarship to the Juilliard School (Group 6, 1973–1976) in New York City. He was one of 20 students accepted into the freshman class, and he and Christopher Reeve ;actor (1952 – 2004) were the only two accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program at the school that year. The two remained close friends until Reeve's death in 2004. William Hurt and Mandy Patinkin were also classmates.”

“He left Juilliard School during his junior year in 1976 at the suggestion of Houseman, who said there was nothing more Juilliard could teach him. Gerald Freedman, another of his teachers at Juilliard, said Williams was a "genius" and that the school's conservative and classical style of training did not suit him; no one was surprised that he left.”


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams

it doesn't astonish me that Robin Williams and Christopher Reeves graduated from Juilliard.  After all, how would talented thespians, composers, musicians, dancers, etc. become outstanding in their fields if they didn't receive the education and training at Juilliard?  RW and CR were only two out of thousands of internationally famous people who were Juilliard alumni.  RW might have been one of the few who left early, but there were many, many, many others who chose to stay the entire 4 or 6 years even though they were also considered geniuses during their formal training.

However,

when Robin Williams joined the prestigious Juilliard School, his teachers told him "to focus more on his stand-up comedy than working on his acting classes". They even went on to tell him “he was wasting his time in these classes!”

Despite this disheartening advice given by his actor’s school teachers in NYC, Robin went on to prove all of his professors wrong, showing he couldn’t just excel in stand-up comedy, but he could also be an Oscar-winning actor, making him one of the most successful exports out of New York’s Juilliard..

Attending Juilliard was such a huge part of Robin Williams’s life and career and he owed much of his success to his education at the prestigious Julliard Acting School.

Robin knew how invaluable his experience was and wanted to give other rising stars the same opportunity so he set up a scholarship fund to help others attend the institution.

- Making it in acting is never an easy feat and even when you
  make it, it takes a while for the big money to come rolling in.

-  When Robin Williams was just starting out as an aspiring
       actor, he had no money and really struggled in getting by.
   
-   Instead of getting a job behind a bar or as a waiter, he
    decided to use his talents and perform as a mime outside of
    New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.