genie, i need help. all right, sparky, here s the deal. reporter: the greatest ad-libber of his comic generation, williams was unbottled anarchy as the voice of the genie in aladdin. patches, what are we trying to say? beggar? no. work with me here. reporter: who could ever forget williams role as mrs. doubtfire, the clean-up woman undercover. even in the sadness of his passing, his sensibility shines. warm, generous, with laugher for all. chris conley, abc news, los angeles. so many great gems there. in my office i have frames, the quotation from when he was john keating in dead poet s society. carpe diem, seize the day, boys, make your lives extraordinary. love the line. mrs. doubtfire, clips, a drive-by fruiting, i love all
our indication is that it is a suicide due to asphyxia, due to hanging. reporter: a pocketknife found near his body, cuts on his wrist. mr. williams had been seeking treatment for depression. reporter: this long-time friend who saw williams just last week told me he and others close to him were concerned. we ve been worried. he s been fragile. he s been like really it was clear to us that he was not in great shape. reporter: did you think it would come to this? no. i mean, he was getting so much love and support all around him. you know, it s i mean, for me, there s no making sense of any of this. reporter: those landmarks made famous over the course of a legendary career, now memorials. from the bench in boston seen in good will hunting. you don t know about real love because it only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. reporter: now surrounded by
today at age 22, cameron brooke stanley is cancer-free. she remembers how robin williams cared deeply about the kids in the cast. he was such a real person. so when even off the set, when we weren t when we weren t filming, he was just trying to hang out with the kids and trying to make us forget that we were sick. reporter: cameron was undergoing both chemotherapy and radiation for a tumor on her kidney. williams gave her a nickname, little buddha because of her bald head. he didn t really act like a big star. he just acted like one of us. i mean, even during lunchtime, we would all be sitting out on a table outside, and he would run over, hey, did you try the lemonade? oh, my gosh, it s so good. reporter: cameron has keepsake photos of the patch adams shoot and this one with williams and the 12 cast members. she says there was a real
detroit area on monday, then baltimore, d.c., yesterday, storm system crawl eastward. now the heavy rain, flooding rain aimed at new england. watching the corridor from burlington, vermont done to long island. northeast ward boston, we re talking 2 to 4 inches of rainfall. locally higher amounts here through the day. again, flash flooding, river flooding major concern in these areas. across the northwest, storm system continues to push in, bringing rain and storms here. a few will be severe especially eastern oregon, idaho, packing gusty winds, packing large hail. into the southwest, moisture drawn to the four corners. heavy thunderstorms through the late part of the day, flash flooding and the threat for dust storms. devin, michelle, back to you. thank you so much, jim. we are learning more details this morning about the death of actor robin williams. investigators say it was his personal assistant who found his body monday before noon. authorities say he committed suicide by hang
and a study about sleep aids says they hardly improve the sleep of workers following the night shift. they say users alertness was only slightly improved when they were awake. those are some of the top stories on this wednesday, august 13th. announcer: from abc news, this is world news now. good morning to you. great to have you with us. we begin this half hour with new details surrounding the death of robin williams. fans, friends and family are still stunned this morning as we find out more about how the hollywood legend ended his own life. abc s cecelia vega is in san francisco. reporter: new details about robin williams final hours. at 10:30 p.m. sunday night, williams was last seen alive by his wife, susan schneider. investigators say she woke up monday morning and left their house thinking her husband was still asleep. but just before noon, his personal assistant discovered his body. distraught she called 911. emergency crews responded in minutes. apparent suicide a