Robin Williams in Popeye

With Dave Itzkoff, author of Robin, in person 

Dir. Robert Altman. 1980, 115 mins. 35mm print from UCLA Film and TV Archive. With Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall. Robin Williams was enjoying his breakout success as the star of the TV series Mork & Mindy when he took his first major film role. Working with the great director Robert Altman (M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Nashville), Williams starred in this endearingly eccentric adaptation of the E.C. Segar comic strip, with a Jules Feiffer screenplay and music by Harry Nilsson. Williams was uncanny as Popeye, and Shelley Duvall was perfectly cast as his love interest, Olive Oyl. The screening will be introduced by New York Times writer Dave Itzkoff, whose eagerly anticipated new biography, Robin (Henry Holt, 2018), explores Williams’s comic brilliance along with the deep well of conflicting emotions and self-doubt that simmered beneath the surface, until his untimely death in 2014. The screening will be followed by a book signing. Recommended for ages 6+

Tickets: $15 ($11 seniors and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free for children under 3 and Museum members at the Film Lover and Kids Premium levels and above). Order tickets online.(Members may contact [email protected] with questions regarding online reservations.)

Ticket purchase includes same-day admission to the Museum (see gallery hours). View the Museum’s ticketing policy here. For more information on membership and to join online, visit our membership page.