UNDATED (AP) — Celebrities from Broadway to Hollywood are nearly unanimously in agreement with Steven Spielberg’s belief that Robin Williams was a “comic genius.”

There is widespread admiration and shock at Williams’ apparent suicide at age 63.

Spielberg says Williams was “a lightning storm of comic genius” sustained by the thunder of laughter.

Funny man Steve Martin praised the Oscar-winner’s “great talent” but also said he was a “genuine soul.” Chevy Chase, who acknowledged that he too suffers from depression, called Williams “a wonderful/man boy.”

Former talk show host and comedian Jay Leno says word of Williams’ death made it “a very sad day.”

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