Robert Guillaume, best known for his role as Benson DuBois in both Soap and its spin-off, Benson, passed away Tuesday, October 24, 2017 due to complications from his battle with prostate cancer. He was 89. He is survived by his wife, Donna Brown Guillaume, and his 4 living children. His son, Jacques, passed away from AIDS in 1990.
Born on November 30, 1927 in St. Louis, Guillaume was actually born Robert Peter Williams. He Guillaume, the French version of Williams, as his stage name as to set himself apart in his professional career. Guillaume had his first taste of fame in a 1977 stage production of Guys and Dolls, which earned him a Tony nomination that season. He would return to theater later on, becoming the first African American to play the lead role of the Phantom in a LA production of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom of the Opera, where he replaced Michael Crawford – the original Phantom.
His role in Guys and Dolls led to his getting the role of Benson, the wise cracking butler in the groundbreaking sitcom, Soap, in 1977. In a cast of stars, Guillaume made a name for himself playing against the stereotypical subservient and never heard from African American butler-type which had been the typical portrayal in movies and TV up until that point. Benson’s brand of take no guff comedy made him an instant fan favorite. He won his first Emmy aware for Best Supporting Actor in 1979, the first black actor to do so. Soap ran until 1981, 2 years after Guillaume’s departure.
The enormous popularity of the “Benson” character and Guillaume’s infectious portrayal led to his own spin-off series, Benson, in which Guillaume’s character was hired as the head of household affairs for the fictional Governor Gatling (played by James Noble), as the head of his kitchen and eventually rose through the ranks to become the lieutenant governor . Though Benson was much more tame in its brand of comedy from the acerbic, censors-testing Soap, Guillaume was a certified star and won an Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1985, again, the first black actor to do so. Benson ran from from 1979 to 1986.
In 1994, he voiced the role of Rafiki, a spiritual mandrill in the smash hit Disney classic, The Lion King. In 1995, he won a Grammy for the spoken word recording of The Lion King, which Guillaume narrated.
In 1999, Guillaume suffered a stroke while on the set of the Aaron Sorkin sitcom, Sports Night, where he played Isaac Jaffe, the managing editor of a fictional sports news show, from 1998-2000.