ROBIN WILLIAMS, the comic and actor known for his fast delivery and improvisational humor, has died at 63 of suspected suicide.

    He was pronounced dead Monday at his home in Tiburon, California, the United States, according to a police statement, which listed asphyxia as the probable cause of death. The actor had been battling severe depression, according to a statement from his publicist, Mara Buxbaum.

    Williams started as a stand-up comic and gained fame with the 1970s U.S. TV comedy “Mork & Mindy.” On film, he won an Academy Award for his supporting role as the therapist in the 1997 release “Good Will Hunting.”

    He was also nominated three times for Oscars for leading roles, in “Good Morning, Vietnam” in 1987 and later in “Dead Poets Society” and “The Fisher King.” He provided the voice of the wacky genie in the 1992 Walt Disney Co. animated feature “Aladdin.”

    It was Williams’ ABC TV role as an alien who came to study Earth that launched his Hollywood career.

    He garnered a dozen Golden Globe nominations and won six times, including for playing Mork from the planet Ork.

    (SD-Agencies)