Robert Guillaume
Born Robert Peter Williams
November 30, 1927
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died October 24, 2017 (aged 89)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death Prostate cancer
Occupation Actor
Robert Guillaume (born Robert Peter Williams; November 30, 1927 – October 24, 2017) was an American actor, known for his role as Isaac Jaffe on Sports Night and as Benson on the TV series Soap and the spin-off Benson, as well as for voicing the mandrill Rafiki in The Lion King. In a career that spanned more than 50 years he worked extensively on stage, television and film. For his efforts he was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, and twice won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of the character Benson DuBois, once in 1979 on Soap and in 1985 on Benson. He also won a Grammy Award in 1995 for his spoken word performance of an audiobook version of The Lion King.
Guillaume was born in St. Louis, Missouri, as Robert Williams, to an alcoholic mother. After being abandoned by her, he and several siblings were raised by their grandmother Jeannette Williams. He studied at St. Louis University and Washington University and served in the United States Army before pursuing an acting career. He adopted the surname “Guillaume,” French for William, as his stage name.
He toured the world in 1959 as a cast member of the Broadway musical Free and Easy. He made his Broadway debut in Kwamina in 1961. His other stage appearances included Golden Boy (with Sammy Davis Jr.), Tambourines to Glory, Guys and Dolls, for which he received a Tony Award nomination, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and Purlie!. His additional roles included Katherine Dunham’s Bambouche and in Fly The Blackbird.
In 1964 he portrayed Sportin’ Life in a revival of Porgy and Bess at New York’s City Center. Guillaume was a member of the Robert de Cormier Singers, performing in concerts and on television.
He recorded a LP record, Columbia CS9033, titled Just Arrived as a member of The Pilgrims, a folk trio, with Angeline Butler and Millard Williams. Columbia records producer, Tom Wilson, had set out to create the Pilgrims as an answer to the popular folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary. By early 1964, the Pilgrims had recorded a handful of songs and Wilson was looking for the right song for the group’s debut single when then unknown singer/songwriter, Paul Simon arrived for a meeting with Wilson and eventually pitched his new composition, “The Sound of Silence”. Wilson liked the song, had Simon record a demo for the group, but when Simon and his friend, Art Garfunkel, sang the song for Wilson in person, he signed them to a record contract instead of using it for The Pilgrims. (In the sixties he was in Vienna, Austria at the Vienna Volksoper, Marcel Prawy engaged Robert Guillaume for the role of Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess.)
Later in his stage career, he was cast in the lead role in the Los Angeles production of The Phantom of the Opera replacing Michael Crawford.
Guillaume made several guest appearances on sitcoms, including Good Times, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Saved By The Bell: The College Years and in the 1990s sitcoms The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and A Different World. His series-regular debut was on the ABC series Soap, playing Benson, a butler, from 1977 to 1979. Guillaume continued the role in a spin-off series, Benson, from 1979 until 1986. Guillaume also played Dr. Franklin in season 6, episode 8 (“Chain Letter”) of the series All in the Family, which he coyly referenced Marcus Welby, M.D., a TV series in which he had guest-starred on in 1970.
Personal life and death
Guillaume was married twice; first to Marlene Williams in 1955, with whom he had two sons, Kevin and Jacques. Despite Guillaume choosing to follow his career early in the marriage, they did not divorce until 1984. He had a daughter in 1980, Melissa, whom he raised with her mother, Patricia. He then married Donna Brown in 1986; the couple had a daughter, Rachel. He fathered but did not raise another daughter by a different mother, Patricia, born in 1950, who was raised by her grandparents His son Jacques died on December 23, 1990, at the age of 33 due to complications of AIDS.
In 1999, Guillaume suffered a stroke while working on Sports Night at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. The stroke was minor, causing relatively slight damage and little effect on his speech.After six weeks in the hospital, he underwent a therapy of walks and sessions in the gym.
Guillaume died of prostate cancer on October 24, 2017, at his home in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 89.
Filmography
Super Fly T.N.T. (1973) – Jordan Gaines
Soap (1977–1980, TV series) – Benson DuBois
The Kid from Left Field (1979, TV movie) – Larry Cooper
Benson (1979–1986, TV series) – Benson DuBois
Seems Like Old Times (1980) – Fred
The Kid with the Broken Halo (1982, TV movie) – Blake
The Kid with the 200 I.Q. (1983, TV movie) – Professor Mills
Prince Jack (1985) – Martin Luther King Jr.
North and South (1985, TV miniseries) – Frederick Douglass
Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987) – Philmore Walker
They Still Call Me Bruce (1987) – V.A. Officer
Lean on Me (1989) – Dr. Frank Napier
The Penthouse (1989) – Eugene St. Clair
Death Warrant (1990) – Hawkins
The Meteor Man (1993) – Ted Reed, Jeff’s Father
The Lion King (1994) – Rafiki (voice)
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1995–2000, TV series) – Narrator
Spy Hard (1996) – Agent Steve Bishop
First Kid (1996) – Wilkes
The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998) – Rafiki (voice)
Sports Night (1998–2000, TV series) – Isaac Jaffe
Silicon Towers (1999) – Detective Green
The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze (2001, Video) – Mr. Thicknose (voice)
The 13th Child: Legend of the Jersey Devil (2002) – Riley
Unchained Memories (2003) – Reader
Big Fish (2003) – Dr. Bennett – Senior
The Lion King 1½ (2004, Video) – Rafiki (voice)
The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry (2009) – Mr. Barnes
Satin (2011) – Doc Bishop
Columbus Circle (2012) – Howard Miles
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