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| Robert Guillaume | ||||||
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 Robert Guillaume in 1980 | ||||||
| Birth name | Robert Peter Williams | |||||
| Born | November 30 1927 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | |||||
| Spouse(s) | Marlene Williams (?-1983) Donna Brown Guillaume (1984-present) | |||||
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Robert Guillaume (born November 30, 1927) is an American stage and television actor, perhaps best known for his role as Benson Du Bois on the TV series Soap and the spin-off Benson, and voicing the mandrill Rafiki in The Lion King.
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Biography
Early life
Guillaume was born as Robert Peter Williams (Guillaume is the French form of William) in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied at St. Louis University and Washington University and served in the United States Army before pursuing an acting career. He made his Broadway debut in Kwamina in 1961. Other stage appearances included Golden Boy, Tambourines to Glory, Guys and Dolls, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, the Los Angeles production of The Phantom of the Opera (succeeding Michael Crawford in the lead role), and Purlie!.
Career
Guillaume made several guest appearances on sitcoms such as Good Times and The Jeffersons before making his series-regular debut on the ABC series Soap, playing Benson DuBois as a butler on that series from 1977 to 1979 and then on a spinoff series, Benson, until 1986. He won Emmy Awards for both series, in 1979 and 1985. He also appeared as marriage counselor Edward Sawyer on The Robert Guillaume Show (1989), Detective Bob Ballard on Pacific Station (1991), and television executive Isaac Jaffe on Aaron Sorkin's short-lived but critically acclaimed Sports Night (1998-2000). Guillaume suffered a mild stroke on January 14, 1999, while filming an episode of the latter series. He recovered and his character was later also depicted as having had a stroke. He also made a guest appearance on 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter Guillaume has also appeared in a number of films, including Seems Like Old Times (1980), The Kid with the Broken Halo (co-starring Gary Coleman), Lean on Me (1989), First Kid (1996), and Big Fish (2003). His voice has also been used for characters in television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Fish Police, and Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child and for the voice of Rafiki in the movie The Lion King and its sequels and spin-offs. He also supplied the voice for Eli Vance in the 2004 video game Half-Life 2 and its subsequent sequels. In the 1980s Guillaume was a commercial pitchman for Ocean Spray, promoting its line of grapefruit juice. He also was the spokesman for "Milk of Magnesia". Guillaume is known as an accomplished singer and several episodes of Benson provided Guillaume a storyline to vocally perform. Guillaume stirred some controversy when he replaced Michael Crawford as The Phantom in the National tour of Phantom of the Opera, some tickets being returned before the actor even made his show debut. He is further known to have the distinction as the first, and to date only, African American to assume the role of the Phantom. Guillaume has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
External links
- Robert Guillaume at the Internet Movie Database
- Robert Guillaume at TV.com
- Robert Guillaume at the Internet Broadway Database
- Robert Guillaume at the Yahoo Movies bio page.
- St. Louis Walk of Fame
- Robert Guillaume biography and video interview excerpts by The National Visionary Leadership Project
