The 70-year-old actress worked closely with both actors throughout her career.
Glenn Close says that Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams' friendship was so strong that she believes if the Superman star was still alive, he could have saved Williams.
The 70-year-old actress got emotional while delivering a touching speech at the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation's annual "A Magical Evening" Gala in New York City on Thursday, where she reflected on the late actors and her friendship with them both.
"My first connection to Christopher Reeve was through Robin Williams, when we were shooting The World According to Garp. It was the summer of 1982, when we were filming on Fishers Island," Close began. "On Friday evenings, Chris would literally swoop in, piloting his own plane, scoop Robin up, and away they would fly for the weekend. On Sunday, late afternoon, Chris would swoop back in and deliver Robin back -- I have to say a little worse for wear."
"Those were the heady days for them both," she continued. "They were on top of the world. They were living the kind of fast and crazy life that our business can hand to you if you become a wildly famous phenomenon, practically overnight."
Reeve and Williams were roommates at the Juilliard School in New York City in the '70s before shooting to fame, and remained close friends throughout their careers. Reeve died of heart failure at age 52 in 2004, nine years after he suffered a horseback riding accident that crushed his spinal cord and rendered him paralyzed from the neck down. Williams committed suicide age age 63 in 2014.
"Their friendship, their connection, is the stuff of legend. It not only endured, but became a life-giving force sustaining them both," Close revealed. "I am convinced that if Chris were still with us, Robin would be too."
"I miss Chris. He was a great man," she said, pausing to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes. "He had more moral and mental fortitude than anyone I will ever know," she said. "It moved me to the core and there are times when it even took my breath away. And he was courageous. Against the odds, he had the courage to hope for his dream, which is now our dream -- a world of empty wheelchairs."
