How Robin Williams inspired Christopher Reeve to embrace life

Since Robin Williams's tragic death, people everywhere flooded social media with tributes to his comedic genius and his warmth. Williams was found dead on from suspected suicide August 11 at his northern California home.

But one of the best stories about Williams doesn't have anything to do with his stand-up work or movie roles. It just shows the kind of person Williams was outside of his career.

Back in 1995, Christopher Reeve told Barbara Walters that he "wanted to die" after he was paralysed in a horse-riding accident. Reeve's wife even told him that if he wished to "pull the plug", that they would "find a way to do that". She added: "But you're still you. And we love you."

Later, after she left, Reeve was lying alone in the hospital with his "dark thoughts". Suddenly, a doctor walked into Reeve's hospital room and yelled, "Turn over!" The surprised Reeve uttered "What?" He was paralysed and clearly couldn't turn over. But again, the doctor repeated, "Turn over!" Reeve was about to call a nurse, when he realised that this was no doctor.

This was Robin Williams - his old friend from Julliard School of Drama. And at that moment, Reeve started to laugh. He later told Walters, "I knew then: if I could laugh, I could live."