Robin Williams’ estate is valued at $50 million, the figure assessed at the time of his death on August 11, 2014. Williams was one of the most versatile comedic and dramatic actors of his generation — an Oscar winner, four-time Academy Award nominee, and Grammy-winning stand-up comedian whose career produced blockbusters including Mrs. Doubtfire, Aladdin, Good Will Hunting, and Good Morning, Vietnam.
Updated March 2026: According to Forbes, Williams left behind an estate valued at approximately $50 million at the time of his death. A provision in his trust restricts commercial use of his name, image, signature, and likeness until 2039 — 25 years after his passing — limiting posthumous income from endorsements and licensing.
Robin McLaurin Williams was born on July 21, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois. He was raised in the affluent suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where his father was a senior executive at Ford Motor Company. As a child he was introverted and used humor as a way to connect, drawing from his mother’s witty sensibility. After the family relocated to San Francisco in 1967, Williams attended Redwood High School, where he joined the drama club. He enrolled at Claremont Men’s College and later studied theater at College of Marin before earning a full scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City, where he trained alongside Christopher Reeve. Williams left Juilliard after three years, returning to San Francisco and Los Angeles to develop a stand-up comedy act in the clubs of both cities.
Williams broke into television when a guest appearance as the alien Mork on Happy Days led to his own ABC series, Mork & Mindy (1978–1982), which ran for four seasons and reached 60 million weekly viewers at its peak. His feature film debut was the title role in Robert Altman’s Popeye (1980). His true box-office breakthrough came with Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), which grossed more than $105 million domestically according to the Los Angeles Times and earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Three more Oscar nominations followed: Dead Poets Society (1989), The Fisher King (1991), and — the win — Good Will Hunting (1997), for which he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The 1990s defined his mainstream commercial peak: Hook (1991), Aladdin (1992) — where he voiced the Genie for $75,000 rather than his standard $8 million per-film fee, famously refusing to allow his image to be used in marketing — Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), and Jumanji (1995) were all major box-office successes.
Williams also excelled in dramatic roles such as Awakenings (1990) with Robert De Niro and What Dreams May Come (1998). His 2002 stand-up special, Robin Williams: Live on Broadway, was both a critical success and the basis for a Grammy-winning comedy album. Forbes estimated that his film earnings during the early 1990s peak exceeded $50 million, with leading-man salaries reaching approximately $8 million per picture during his most commercially bankable period.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Williams continued balancing comedic and dramatic roles through the 2000s, appearing in One Hour Photo (2002), Insomnia (2002), and the Night at the Museum franchise (2006–2014), among dozens of other films. His final completed film was Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014).
Williams was married three times: to Valerie Velardi (1978–1988), Marsha Garces (1989–2010), and Susan Schneider Williams (2011–2014). He had three children: Zachary Pym Williams (born 1983) with Valerie, and Zelda Rae Williams (born 1989) and Cody Alan Williams (born 1991) with Marsha.
Williams died by suicide on August 11, 2014, at his home in Paradise Cay, Tiburon, California, at age 63. An autopsy three months later revealed he had diffuse Lewy body dementia — one of the most severe cases pathologists had seen — a disease that had not been correctly identified during his lifetime. His widow, Susan Schneider Williams, has since become a public advocate for Lewy body dementia awareness.
Williams’s estate planning used revocable trusts to distribute assets, keeping the estate partially out of public probate. His will directed the bulk of his personal property and memorabilia to his three children, while Susan was provided for under their prenuptial agreement and received their shared home for the remainder of her life, though title would eventually pass to his children. A legal dispute between Susan and the children over the interpretation of memorabilia provisions was settled out of court in October 2015, as reported by Vanity Fair. Susan remained in the Tiburon home until selling it in 2020 for $5.35 million. The Napa Valley estate sold in 2016 for approximately $18.1 million.
A notable provision in Williams’s trust restricts the commercial use of his name, image, voice, and likeness until 2039 — 25 years after his death — preventing endorsements, holograms, or advertising usage until that date, according to Forbes. The rights were transferred to his Windfall Foundation, removing them from his taxable estate while preserving control over their use.
Robin Williams’s estate was valued at approximately $50 million at the time of his death in August 2014, according to Forbes. Two divorces, each costing an estimated $15 million in settlements, significantly reduced his wealth from its peak, which had been estimated as high as $130 million by some outlets.
Williams left the majority of his estate to his three children — Zachary, Zelda, and Cody — through trusts. His widow, Susan Schneider Williams, received the right to remain in their shared Tiburon home for life (title would ultimately pass to the children), a living allowance, and certain personal items including a watch, a bicycle, and their wedding gifts, per the 2015 settlement reported by Vanity Fair.
Not until 2039. Williams included a 25-year restriction in his trust prohibiting commercial use of his name, image, signature, and voice following his 2014 death. This means no authorized endorsements, AI recreations, or holograms can be produced until at least 2039, according to Forbes.
Born on July 21, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, Robin Williams passed away on August 11, 2014 at the age of 63.
Robin Williams stands 5’7″ tall (170 cm).
Robin Williams was married three times: to Valerie Velardi (1978–1988), Marsha Garces (1989–2010), and Susan Schneider (2011 until his death in 2014). He had three children: Zak, Zelda, and Cody.
Yes, Robin Williams had three children: Zak (~43), Zelda (~37), and Cody (~35). Zelda, named after the Legend of Zelda video game character, has become an actress and director in her own right.
Robin Williams lived in the Tiburon/Paradise Cay area of California, north of San Francisco. He purchased the home for $4.05 million in 2008, and it was later sold for $5.35 million in 2020.
Robin Williams earned $165,000 per episode for his final TV series, The Crazy Ones. His estate was valued at approximately $50 million at the time of his passing in 2014.