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To prepare for his role in Moscow on the Hudson, Robin Williams learned Russian and saxophone. A lot of Russians see the film and go, 'Who iz ze Polish boy in ze lead?'"

Filmmaker Paul Mazursky knew Robin Williams was a genius before most folks did.

Based on four mostly successful seasons of "Mork & Mindy" and two explosively funny HBO specials ("Off the Wall" and "An Evening with Robin Williams), he was a whirling dervish of hilarity who existed to light up your living room. This doesn't quite explain how he learned to convincingly play Billy Strayhorn's "Take the A-Train" in such a condensed period of study, but it adds up in that his genius seemed boundless. "Moscow on the Hudson" was a modest box office success, one that Williams desperately needed after the less-than-stellar commercial performances of "The World According to Garp" and "The Survivors."

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