SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Academy Award winning actor and comedian Robin Williams has died in an apparent suicide. He was 63.

Sheriff’s deputies say Williams was pronounced dead Monday at his home in Marin (muh-RIHN’) County, California, north of San Francisco. The sheriff’s office said a preliminary investigation shows the cause of death to be a suicide due to asphyxia.

His press representative, Mara Buxbaum, said Williams had recently been battling severe depression.

Williams’ breakthrough performance was in the late 1970s as an alien in the hit TV show “Mork and Mindy.” He won his Academy Award in a rare dramatic role as a teacher in the 1997 film “Good Will Hunting.”

Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider, said she lost a husband and best friend who was one of the worlds “most beloved artists and beautiful human beings.”

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