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Matt Damon Fondly Recalls The Late Robin Williams On Golden Globes Red Carpet [Video]

By Darien Cavanaugh
Published on: 14:57 PST, Jan 8, 2017

Ryan Seacrest caught up with Matt Damon on the red carpet at the 2017 Golden Globes Sunday night.

Seacrest asked the The Great Wall star about what it was like to work with the late Robin Williams on the set of Good Will Hunting, which was released 20 years ago this year.

“Oh, man, [I have] a lot of Robin Williams memories, good memories of him,” Damon said in a video posted by Us Weekly.

“And Ben said recently, it’s weird, we always felt like we were going to, we had this incredible debt to pay him back. And we thought there would be time to do that and just the abruptness of somebody leaving like that, that realization comes that you’re never going to be able to pay back this incredible thing done for you… That movie got made because Robin said he wanted to do it. That changed the trajectory of our careers completely, forever.”

You can watch the video of Damon and Seacrest’s exchange below.

Indeed, Good Will Hunting was a breakout film for both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Damon had a few minor roles in films like Glory Daze, School Ties and Chasing Amy prior to that, but after playing the titular role in Good Will Hunting he immediately began landing leading roles in films like Saving Private Ryan, Rounders, Dogma, and The Talented Mr. Ripley before eventually going on to star in mega-blockbusters like the Bourne franchise.

Likewise, Affleck’s biggest roles before the success of Good Will Hunting were in similar films, such as Mallrats, Chasing Amy and, also, School Ties. After Good Will Hunting, he, too, became a leading man in films like Armageddon, Forces of Nature, Reindeer Games and Bounce before moving on to films like Pearl Harbor, The Sum of All Fears and Daredevil. His more recent films, Argo and Gone Girl for instance, have been critically acclaimed. The former earned him a Golden Globe for Best Director.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won a Golden Globe for writing the screenplay for Good Will Hunting.

Matt Damon is not the only celebrity to publicly express fond memories of Robin Williams this week. As the Inquisitr previously reported, The Osbournes reality TV star Kelly Osbourne pays a tribute to Williams in her new book, There Is No F*cking Secret, which Page Six reviewed earlier this week.

In the book, Osbourne recalls how Williams came to the aid of her mother, Sharon Osbourne, as she was struggling with cancer.

“[Robin] climbed into bed with her… He stayed there all afternoon, and throughout the house, you could hear her cackling with laughter,” Page Six quotes Kelly’s book. “Shortly after he left, she told us that she’d decided to go back and finish chemo… Robin Williams helped save mum’s life.”

Robin Williams was universally admired and respected by his colleagues in Hollywood for his great acting and wonderful sense of humor as well as his kindness and generosity.

Williams died tragically when he took his own life in 2014 after fighting against Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body disease and depression for many years.

“[Parkinson’s disease] is actually an accurate diagnosis; however, that was the clinical side. The pathology was that he had diffuse Lewy body disease, which is what took him,” Robin’s wife, Susan Schneider Williams, told CBS This Morning’s Charlie Rose according to Us Weekly. “I can tell you in his autopsy, the coroner’s report was clear that he had Lewy body throughout all of his brain and brain stem — nearly every region.”

It was a sad ending for a man who brought happiness and joy to so many others.

Matt Damon’s heartfelt memory of Robin Williams was one of the more touching moments of this year’s Golden Globes.

[Featured Image by Brenda Chase/Getty Images]

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