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Remembering Robin Williams on what would have been his 64th birthday

While the occasion highlights that we lost the star far too soon, it also offers the chance to recall what we miss so much about him.
/ Source: TODAY

It's been almost a year since Robin Williams died, leaving family, friends and fans mourning the beloved star. Since then, tributes and posthumous film releases have served as reminders of the tremendous loss.

And Tuesday marks yet another reminder — it's the day that would have been Williams' 64th birthday.

Image: Robin Williams
FILE - This June 15, 2007 file photo shows actor and comedian Robin Williams posing for a photo in Santa Monica, Calif. Williams, whose free-form comedy and adept impressions dazzled audiences for decades, died Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, in an apparent suicide. Williams was 63. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)AP file

While the occasion highlights the fact that we lost the star of both big and small screens far too soon, it also offers the chance to recall what we miss so much about him.

Williams first made his mark in television, playing the likable alien Mork — first on "Happy Days" and then on the 1978 spinoff "Mork & Mindy."

But it wasn't long before he made the move to films, earning a wider audience with unforgettable performances in "Popeye" (1980), "The World According to Garp" (1982), "Good Morning Vietnam" (1987) and "Dead Poets Society" (1989).

Robin Williams
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA - OCTOBER 26: Robin Williams photographed backstage before his performance at the Ted Constant Convocation Center during a 30-city tour October, 26, 2009 in Norfolk, Virginia. (Photo by Jay Paul/Getty Images)Getty Images file

He was just as active in movies in the '90s, when he became better known to a whole new generation of fans as Genie from "Aladdin" and a divorced dad turned "hip old granny" in "Mrs. Doubtfire." And his turn as Teddy Roosevelt in the "Night at the Museum" films charmed us in more recent years.

We'll soon have the chance to see him in theaters again, as his final on-screen feature film, "Boulevard," opens July 31.

With such an amazing legacy, everyone has their own memories of the star.

"People should remember what they want to remember of him," his daughter Zelda told TODAY in February. "That's their memories; that's what's important. I have mine and they are mine and I love that."

On her father's birthday, Zelda posted a cloudy scene to her Instagram account and announced that she was taking a break from social media for a few weeks.

"I understand there will be those who wish to leave messages regarding Dad on my board," she wrote in the accompanying caption. "But please attempt to be respectful and kind to one another in the process, both because I will not be here to delete or mediate trolling, and because kindness is in short supply these days anyhow."

And kindness seems like the perfect tribute to the affable actor to spread so much joy during his life.

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