Williams committed suicide last Monday. He was 63. The actor's widow, Susan Schneider, later said in a statement that Williams was under depression and was also diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
lThe Oscar-winning actor jumped to fame in the TV series "Mork & Mindy" and went on to become one of the most successful entertainers in the world. Williams plays the alien Mork in "Mork & Mindy" from 1978 to 1982, with Pam Dawber. The character first featured in an episode of "Happy Days."
Williams also played the character of Popeye the sailor man, whose secret source of strength turns out to be spinach, with Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl, in 1980's "Popeye."
Letterman and Williams were friends for 38 years. The "Late Show" host devoted 10 minutes of the show recalling Williams and their early days together in the late 1970s at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles.
"He and I were kids," Letterman said, recalling their contemporaries, Jay Leno, Tom Dreesen, Tim Thomerson, Johnny Dark, Elayne Boosler and Jimmy Walker.
Letterman said when Williams first appeared on stage, he had been introduced as a Scottish comedian and everyone was "afraid of him." But he eventually became Letterman's friend and soon got his own sitcom with "Mork & Mindy."
Williams appeared on Letterman's late-night shows 50 times over the years. On Monday, Letterman played a montage of Williams' appearances, but the emphasis was not on laughs as much as emotion. The talk show host got emotional after the end of the clips.
"I'm sorry, like everybody else, that I had no idea that the man was in pain, that the man was suffering," he said.
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