A writer, a feminist mother, a wrestler and a world that keeps turning tragedy into farce — Robin Williams finds the tenderness at the centre of Garp.
Released in 1982, The World According to Garp, based on John Irving’s novel, stars Williams as T. S. Garp, a young writer navigating marriage, fatherhood and the extraordinary women around him, including his mother Jenny, played by Glenn Close.
Williams plays Garp with a mix of comedy and vulnerability that was new for him on screen. He is funny without forcing it, and the film’s saddest moments land because he has made Garp feel like a real, hopeful man, not a comic invention.
It is a signature early dramatic role: the first clear sign that the manic comedian from television could carry a complex, grown-up story, and that his best work would balance laughter with loss.