Robin Williams bio coming from Henry Holt and Dave Itzkoff

Henry Holt has acquired the rights to a biography of the late Robin Williams, to be written by New York Times culture reporter Dave Itzkoff.

“The book will provide the definitive, comprehensive account of Williams’s life and will recount his journey from lonesome youth to indefatigable comedian, and from television sensation to beloved, Academy Award-winning star of ‘Dead Poets Society,’ ‘Aladdin,’ and ‘Good Will Hunting,’” Henry Holt said in a press release.

Williams, 63, died in an apparent suicide earlier this month. Having long battled addiction, Williams was sober at the time of his death, but was suffering the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, family members said.

Itzkoff interviewed Williams several times, most recently for a profile in 2009, when Williams was recovering from open-heart surgery. “You appreciate little things,” Williams told Itzkoff, “like walks on the beach with a defibrillator.”

“Robin Williams was a cultural hero of mine, and in the encounters and interactions I was able to share with him, he was always gentle and generous, humane and thoughtful and hilarious,” Itzkoff said in a press release.

Henry Holt did not announce a publication date.

Hector tweets about topics literary on Twitter as @TobarWriter