Robert Guillaume

Robert Guillaume (November 30, 1927 – October 24, 2017) was an American stage and television actor, singer and voice actor. He is known for his sharp-tongued character Benson DuBois on Soap and its sequel Benson; The voice of Rafiki, the wise monkey in The Lion King, also belongs to him.

Missouri's St. He grew up in a poor environment in the city of St. Louis. Saint Louis University and St. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis and served in the US army for a while. He chose to use the surname Guillaume on stage.

From stage to television

He started acting in musicals and appeared on Broadway in the early 1960s. In 1976, he played Nathan Detroit in the all-black production of Guys and Dolls; This comment earned him a Tony nomination. Years later, he took the lead role in The Phantom of the Opera, staged in Los Angeles, becoming the first African American to voice this character.

He gained his real fame on television. In ABC's satirical TV series Soap, which started in 1977, he played the butler Benson, who does not refrain from criticizing his employer family. The character was so popular that the eponymous Benson series was launched in 1979 and ran until 1986. Guillaume won two Emmys for the same character: one in 1979 for his supporting role on Soap, and the other in 1985 for his leading role on Benson.

In later years, he played news executive Isaac Jaffe on Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night. He voiced Rafiki in 1994's The Lion King; He also provided the voice of the character Eli Vance in the video game Half-Life 2. Guillaume died at his home in Los Angeles on October 24, 2017, at the age of 89, after a battle with prostate cancer.