Raquel Welch Claimed Robin Williams Used A Sensory Deprivation Tank To Relax While Filming Mork & Mindy
Raquel Welch has passed away at the age of 82. The "Three Musketeers" actor was a stalwart of both the film and television industries, with an active career ranging from the early '60s all the way through the late 2010s. Just after receiving a Golden Globe in the 1970s, she even appeared on two episodes of the classic sci-fi sitcom "Mork & Mindy" — best known for launching the career of the late, legendary performer Robin Williams. In the two-part narrative "Mork vs. The Necrotons," Welch played Captain Nirvana.
In 1996, Welch made an appearance on The Rosie O'Donnell Show (hosted by the titular comedian-actor) to discuss her then-upcoming BBC documentary series "Sex, Censorship, and the Silverscreen." Just before launching into their discussion of the politics of Hollywood prudishness, however, they revisited one of her scenes from "Mork & Mindy." While discussing the experience of working with Williams, Welch revealed the unconventional method he used to unwind during filming.
Williams would immerse himself in water to chill out
In the 1996 interview, host Rosie O'Donnell remarked, "That must have been fun working with [Robin Williams]," to which Raquel Welch emphatically confirmed, "it was." Both women praised Willaims as a comedic genius, with the actor opening up about what it was like to be with him on-set. "He is, like, so talented," she said. "And, of course, [on 'Mork and Mindy'] he was just starting out. Gary Marshall asked me to come on the show and [Williams] was just so amazingly talented and a great improviser and everything, but he was, like, super hyper."
She went on to say that Williams had so much energy he was "bouncing off the walls," and that he had to take extraordinary measures just to relax between takes. "What he used to do — which I thought was a little bit bizarre — was he used to have a sort of tank," she began. "It looked like a coffin, but it was in the '70s, so it was one of those things that everyone was doing... and you'd lie down in it full of water and it would help you chill out." Though she admitted it seemed to work for Williams, Welch obviously thought the image of him "om-ing out" in the tank was strange and a little funny, barely containing her laughter as O'Donnell joked that it sounded like something you'd buy at Michael Jackson's garage sale, referencing the pop star's infamous oxygen chamber. Sadly, Williams pre-deceased Welch, dying in 2014 at age 63.