Advertisement

Robin Williams: Deleted scenes show Mrs Doubtfire was nearly too heartbreaking for families

 (Rex Features)
(Rex Features)

Two scenes didn’t end up in family comedy Mrs Doubtfire because they were too heartbreaking for families.

The film, which stars Robin Williams – who died six years ago today (11 August) – follows Daniel Hillard, a divorced actor who disguises himself as the titular housekeeper in order to spend time with his children in the custody of his ex-wife (Sally Field).

While the 1993 film has its fair share of emotional scenes, Mrs Doubtfire is primarily remembered for being light-hearted entertainment, led superbly by the brilliant Williams and director Chris Columbus (Home Alone, the first two Harry Potter films).

This very nearly wasn’t the case as these two deleted scenes show.

One clip shows their daughter, Lydia (Lisa Jakub), participating in a spelling bee before being distracted by her parents bickering in the crowd.

Outside, she wonders why her parents can’t just “pretend” to love each other – watch the scene above.

More deleted footage depicts an extremely brutal argument between the parents through the eyes of their children.

It’s genuinely tough to watch and could potentially hit extremely close to home for some.

Watch this particular moment below.

While the classic moments would have remained hilarious if these scenes had found their way into the finished film, it’s difficult to imagine laughing quite so hard had they been there.

Williams’ daughter Zelda paid tribute to her late father, who died by suicide in 2014 aged 63.

In a candid post on Twitter, Williams’ daughter – who is also an actor – said she would be taking the day off social media as she finds the flood of online tributes every year hard to cope with.

Earlier this week, she hit back at Eric Trump after the president’s son shared an old stand-up clip of Williams poking fun at Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

She urged Eric to look up at the “savage” things Williams said about his father.

Read More

Why Mrs Doubtfire is more than just a panto comedy