Mariska Hargitay fondly remembers when Williams was on set in 2008.
Thanks to family-friendly hits like Patch Adams, Mrs. Doubtfire and Flubber, the late comedic genius Robin Williams (who died at the age of 63 in 2014) is best known for bringing delight to audiences everywhere. But the Juilliard-trained actor could also embody dramatic roles, and he went all the way dark for a terrifying turn on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Robin Williams played a chilling manipulator on SVU
For the series’ 200th episode in 2008 (Season 19, Episode 17, “Authority”), the show brought in Williams as a guest star to play Merritt Rook, a man who impersonates police officers over the phone to manipulate his victims into committing crimes.
Merritt represents himself in court and is let off. Later, he kidnaps and tortures Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay)… or so it seems. Really, it’s psychological torture on Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), and Benson was never in real danger. He blames his actions on trauma and tragedy from his past, but clearly, he’s taken it way too far. Williams’ performance was so impressive that it earned him an Emmy nomination.
Richard Belzer helped Robin Williams get on the show
The late Richard Belzer (Detective John Munch), who died in 2023 at 78 years old, started his career as a stand-up comedian alongside Williams, and the two remained friends long after. According to Neal Baer, who co-wrote the episode, Belzer was the one who reached out to Williams about appearing on the show.
Mariska Hargitay felt Williams’ “magic” on set
“To watch flow happening — that which is invisible — he was the personification of it,” Hargitay recalled in an interview after the actor’s death in 2014, per TODAY. “Everything was electric with him. Like there was no line between sort of acting and who he was as a person. And the most fun person and the most generous, and it was pure joy.”
argitay’s eldest son, August, was a toddler at the time, and Williams entertained the little boy with voices on set.
“Robin grabbed him and picked him up and so kind and doing voices for him,” she said. “And you’re just in this moment going, ‘I’m pinching myself that I get to live in the same time with somebody so magnetic and so magic and so generous’ that you go, ‘I’m just different because we got to breathe, same oxygen…It was pretty great.”
