Artist and Performer - Robert Guillaume
Robert Guillaume
Biography:
Robert Guillaume was born on November 30, 1927. A distinguished,
dapper veteran of stage musicals, Robert Guillaume was nominated
for a Tony Award for his starring role as Nathan Detroit in the
1976-77 all-black revival of "Guys and Dolls". After numerous
small screen appearances, he came to prominence on the sitcom "Soap"
(ABC, 1977-79) as the acerbic, insolent butler Benson, a role that
won him a supporting Emmy in 1979. His character was spun off onto
a long-running series of his own, "Benson" (ABC, 1979-86), for which
the actor copped a second Emmy in 1985. In the late 70s and early
80s, Guillaume starred in three TV-movies with Gary Coleman, one of
which he co-produced. He returned to the sitcom format with "The Robert
Guillaume Show" (ABC, 1989), cast as a marriage counselor romantically
involved with his white secretary (Wendy Phillips). Guillaume's active
TV schedule has limited his film appearances, which began with a role
in the blaxploitation flick "SuperFly TNT" (1973). "Lean on Me" (1989)
offered the actor one of his best film roles, as the superintendent of
schools trying to give support to maverick high school principal Joe Clark
(Morgan Freeman). Guillaume was not even seen in his biggest hit, though,
voicing the mystical baboon Rafiki in Disney's "The Lion King" (1994) and
all its sequels .
With his second wife Donna Brown Guillaume, he executive produced and
co-starred in "You Must Remember This", a 1992 PBS "Wonderworks" entry.
Between 1994 and 1997, the Guillaumes also produced "Happily Ever After",
a seriesof ethnically diverse animated fairy tales, for which he also served
as narrator.