1 May, 2024 Siobhan Marie Day 0 Comments 2 categories

Directed by Tom Shadyac, Screenplay by Steve Oedekerk, Based on "Gesundheit: Good Health Is a Laughing Matter" by Patch Adams and Maureen Mylander, Produced by Mike Farrell, Barry Kemp, Marvin Minoff, Charles Newirth, and Marsha Garces Williams, Starring: Robin Williams, Monica Potter, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bob Gunton, Daniel London, Peter Coyote, with Cinematography by Phedon Papamichael Jr., and Edited by Don Zimmerman, with Music by Marc Shaiman, Production companies: Blue Wolf, Bungalow 78 Productions, and Farrell/Minoff, and Distributed by Universal Pictures (1998)

The Clown of the Care Circus…

Patch Adams is a 1998 biographical comedy-drama film directed by Tom Shadyac and starring Robin Williams in the lead role, Monica Potter, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bob Gunton, Daniel London, and Peter Coyote. Set in the late 1960s/early 1970s, it is loosely based on the life story of Dr. Hunter Doherty “Patch” Adams and the 1993 book Gesundheit!: Bringing Good Health to You, the Medical System, and Society through Physician Service, Complementary Therapies, Humor, and Joy by Dr. Adams and Maureen Mylander. The film received generally unfavorable reviews from critics, with criticism for the sentimentality and direction, but was a box office success and grossed $202.3 million against a $50–90 million budget.

Director Tom Shadyac arrives at the 8th Annual Education Through Music Los Angeles Benefit Gala at the Skirball Cultural Center on December 10, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Amanda Edwards/WireImage

Robin Williams as Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams in "Patch Adams" (1998) Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Getty Images

Monica Potter as Carin Fisher in "Patch Adams" (1998) Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Getty Images

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Mitch Roman in "Patch Adams" (1998) Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Getty Images

Daniel London as Truman Schiff in "Patch Adams" (1998) Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Getty Images

Bob Gunton as Dean Walcott in "Patch Adams" (1998) Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Getty Images

Peter Coyote as Bill Davis in "Patch Adams" (1998) Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Getty Images

In 1971, Dr. Adams and a few colleagues founded the Gesundheit Institute in Northern Virginia. During the next 12 years, they operated a home-based family medical practice and managed to treat over 15,000 people without payment, malpractice insurance, or formal facilities. Royalties will fund the Gesundheit Institute, a 40-bed free hospital in West Virginia. Published: January 1, 1992 Publisher: Robert Heard Publishing

Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams (born May 28, 1945) is an American physician, comedian, social activist, clown, and author. He founded the Gesundheit! Institute as a not-for-profit in 1989. Each year he also organizes volunteers from around the world to travel to various countries where they dress as clowns to bring humor to orphans, patients, and other people. Adams is currently based in Urbana, Illinois. In collaboration with the institute, he promotes an alternative health care model not funded by insurance policies. Photo Credit: @patchadams/X

Maureen Mylander is best known for the story of Patch Adams and for her seminal critique of military leadership in The Generals: Making It Military-Style. Maureen Mylander majored in journalism at The George Washington University, which led to a career as a writer/editor for the U.S. Army Medical Service and the National Institutes of Health. She has since published an array of well regarded books and, for fun, she plays in a ukulele band. Photo Credit: MaureenMaylander.com

A critical review of the film by Phillip Wuntch of the Dallas Morning News, i would say this review headline hasnt aged well, considering Robin Williams committed suicide due to the diagnosois of Lewey Body Syndrome, an incurable debilitating illness. Photo Credit: Dallas Morning News

Hunter Doherty “Patch” Adams, born May 28, 1945, is an American physician, comedian, social activist, clown, and author. He founded the Gesundheit! Institute as a not-for-profit in 1989. Each year he also organizes volunteers from around the world to travel to various countries where they dress as clowns to bring humor to orphans, patients, and other people. The film loosely depicts Patch Adams’ unusal heathcare model coming to fusion through medical school.

The Gesundheit Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit healthcare organization whose mission is to reframe and reclaim the concept of ‘hospital’. We are a model of holistic medical care based on the belief that the health of the individual cannot be separated from the health of the family, the community, the society and the world. From 1971 through 1983 we used our communal home as a hospital to test our ideas. From 1984 through now we have stopped seeing patients to devote our time to raising funds to build our fantasy hospital. We CANNOT see patients until a proper facility is built. We are a very radical project and most of our funding has been from friends like you. Our organization is founded on six principles that are at the heart of everything we do: Care is free; no third party reimbursement (private or public insurance) is accepted. No malpractice insurance is carried. Initial interviews with patients are 3-4 hours long. The health of the care-giver is as important as the health of the care-receiver. Patients are treated as friends. All complementary medicines are accepted. The Gesundheit Hospital Project is an experiment in holism with a medical focus, a sociopolitical act that grows out of our deep concern for the quality of people’s lives and health in a society dominated by the values inherent in greed and power. It consists of three distinct initiatives which address the yearning for a world that meets human needs unconditionally. There are countless opportunities to volunteer and support at least one of these initiatives. Photo Credit: patchadams.org

Clown Care, also known as hospital clowning, is a program in health care facilities involving visits from specially trained clowns. They are colloquially called "clown doctors" which is a trademarked name in several countries. These visits to hospitals have been shown to help in lifting patients' moods with the positive power of hope and humor. There is also an associated positive benefit to the staff and families of patients. Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Adams is currently based in Urbana, Illinois. In collaboration with the institute, he promotes an alternative health care model not funded by insurance policies.

The American physician, social activist, clown, and author Hunter Doherty "Patch " Adams attends a conference as part of the International Festival of Social Innovation FiiS 2015 at Bicentennial Park Vitacura on October 24, 2015 in Santiago, Chile. Photo by Sebastian Vivallo Onate/Agencia Makro/LatinContent via Getty Images

US doctor and clown Hunter "Patch" Adams (C) jokes with clowns during the photo call of "Clown in' Kabul" shown in special events at the 59th Venice Film festival, 07 September 2002. This film is the story of Hunter " Patch" Adams and 20 other doctors from all over the world, specialists of children, who went to Afghanistan to help children as doctors and clowns during the war. Photo by Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

The 1998 film Patch Adams was based on Adams’s life and his views on medicine. Adams has heavily criticized the film, saying it eschewed an accurate representation of his beliefs in favor of commercial viability. He said that out of all aspects of his life and activism, the film portrayed him merely as a funny doctor. Patch Adams also said of Robin Williams in an interview:

(L to R) Monica Potter, and Robin Williams in "Patch Adams" (1998) Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Getty Images

“He made $21 million for four months of pretending to be me, in a very simplistic version, and did not give $10 to my free hospital. Patch Adams, the person, would have, if I had Robin’s money, given all $21 million to a free hospital in a country where 80 million cannot get care.” ¹
– Patch Adams

In another interview, Adams clarified that he did not dislike Williams, saying:

(L to R) Robin Williams, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in "Patch Adams" (1998) Photo Credit: Universal Pictures/Getty Images

“I think Robin himself is compassionate, generous and funny. I like to think that that’s who I am, and so I think he was the only actor I wanted to play me, and I think he did a fabulous job.” ²
– Patch Adams

Williams also had actively supported St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for several years.

On August 11, 2014, the world lost an iconic entertainer and an incredibly generous man who was a true friend to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Robin Williams brought smiles and joy to St. Jude patients, just as he brought laughter to fans worldwide who watched him in his many comedic roles on television and in movies.

Williams was a celebrity supporter of St. Jude for a decade, freely offering his time and talent in TV commercials with St. Jude patients such as Darcy Cassidy, who was filmed with Williams in 2013.
“He was funny and nice,” says Darcy, 10, who has been fighting a rare brain tumor at St. Jude since 2009.

Darcy’s mother, who met Williams the day of the filming, described the actor as humble. “He was compassionate. He really cared,” she says. “He made us feel like we were the superstars.”
Williams showed his support for St. Jude through his participation in many celebrity events, including the Shower of Stars, a star-studded event in 2003 that was hosted in Memphis by Marlo Thomas, Terre Thomas and Tony Thomas, the children of St. Jude founder Danny Thomas.

The actor was also connected to the St. Jude family through his work with Tom Shadyac, the brother of Richard Shadyac Jr., who is president and chief executive officer of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude. Tom Shadyac, a movie director and producer, worked with Williams when he directed him in the title role of the 1998 movie Patch Adams.

Williams’ commitment to St. Jude is shared by his daughter, actress Zelda Williams, a well-known gamer who this year helped launch a new videogame charity program for St. Jude called St. Jude PLAY LIVE.

The legendary humor and gentle nature that characterized Robin Williams was evident in his work with St. Jude, just as in some of his best-loved roles in movies and TV.

St. Jude National Outreach Director Marlo Thomas remembers Williams as an exceptional man and a comic genius whose generosity and dedication to the children of St. Jude were always apparent.
“He was the genuine article,” she says. “The adoration he felt for the precious, brave children of St. Jude was only matched by the enchantment they felt for him in return.”

Abridged from Promise, Autumn 2014

Upon hearing of the suicide of Williams, Adams released a statement that praised Williams’ comedic and improvisational skills on set; noted his compassionate and caring nature; remarked upon his introverted demeanour in private, and his desire for solitude; and thanked him for “his wonderful performance.”

(L to R) Robin Williams & Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams circa 1998. Photo Credit: Google Images

As a speaker, Adams travels around the globe lecturing about his medicine methods.

American physician, social activist, clown, and author Dr. Patch Adams delivers a speech during opening ceremony of the 1st Annual Ascent Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, on February 28 .The Ascent Expo, produced by eWorld Media, is an assemblage of cultural creativity, conscientious capitalism, and philanthropy to explore the future of commerce, sustainability, environmentalism, health, and self-actualization. Photo by Mintaha Neslihan Eroglu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Patch Adams is the Featured Film Blog of the month for May for its real life history of a Doctor who truly cares for and about his patients! You can expect to read a critique of the 1998 film, Patch Adams, with a real-life character comparison. You can also read a recommendation for the film that includes a history of Hunter Doherty “Patch” Adams. There is also a review of the 1993 book that the film was loosley based off of, Gesundheit!: Bringing Good Health to You, the Medical System, and Society Through Physician Service, Complementary Therapies, Humor, and Joy by Dr. Patch Adams and Maureen Mylander. You can also watch a classic interview from the making of Patch Adams included in the DVD release that featured director Tom Shadyac, one of the film’s producers Mike Farrell, Patch Adams, and the late Robin Williams. There is also a Top Ten List to commemorate the film being a Featured Film Blog of the month, and for Patch Adams, the topic of the list is My Top Ten Robin Williams Movies! And finally, as a Featured Blog of the month, you can watch the Official Trailer for the 1998 film and then plan on watching Patch Adams tonight!