Somewhere between playing the alien character Mork from Ork on television and voicing the all-powerful Genie in Disney’s Aladdin, the usually zany Robin Williams made the grade in the dramatic role of English prep school professor John Keating in Touchstone Pictures’ Dead Poets Society. The thought-provoking film earned unparalleled praise among audiences and critics alike, and made the honor role in the form of an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay and a Best Actor nomination for Williams. The film also helped popularize the phrase “Carpe Diem,” which Keating uses to inspire his students to live life to the fullest rather than conform. “Carpe Diem, lads! Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary!”
