National Portrait Gallery Installs Photo of Robin Williams

The National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F streets NW in Washington, D.C., has put a photograph of Robin Williams on display Wednesday.

Williams died this week after reportedly committing suicide.

The photograph of Williams, taken for Time magazine by Michael Dressler in 1979, is on view in the museum’s first floor, north gallery. At the time the photo was taken, Williams was 27 and enjoying success as “Mork” on the hit show “Mork & Mindy.”

Here’s what the museum said about Williams for the “In Memoriam: Robin Williams” exhibit, which will be up indefinitely, according to the museum:

Williams was a madcap genius in performances of all types of entertainment, from stand-up to feature films. Known initially as a comedian, he surprised with his ability to play serious dramatic roles. His breakthrough came in the 1970s TV comedy Mork and Mindy; as the alien Mork, much of Williams’ dialogue was improvised, as would be the case in most of his comedic roles. Once established, Williams worked tirelessly in show business, going on to appear in many feature films, including Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Dead Poets Society(1989) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993); he won an Oscar for his role as the psychologist in Good Will Hunting (1997). He played Teddy Roosevelt in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009). He also did voiceover work in animated films and returned to television withThe Crazy Ones (2013–14).

The decision to memorialize Williams came just hours after Smithsonian staff heard the news, Smithsonian.com reported:

“When I got in this morning I saw the sad news that Robin Williams had passed away,” says David Ward, senior historian at the Portrait Gallery. He recalled that the museum had an image of Williams from its Time collection and quickly got a team together to work on writing and affixing a label, painting the wall, and retrieving the image from off-site storage.

PHOTO: Robin Williams by Michael Dressler. Color photograph on paper, 1979. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian; gift of Time magazine