Robert Guillaume
Highest Rated: 92% The Lion King (1994)
Lowest Rated: 0% Death Warrant (1990)
Birthday: Nov 30, 1927
Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Robert Guillaume became one of the best-beloved and respected television actors of the late 1970s and 1980s playing one character in two different series and establishing a trademark capacity to render bone-dry wit, stoic demeanor and even thoughtful compassion. An accomplished Broadway performer and singer through the 1960s and '70s, Guillaume came to national prominence on the groundbreaking and controversial sitcom "Soap" (ABC, 1977-1981) as Benson, the domestic servant with anything but a servile attitude or respect for his upper class employers. Benson proved such a breakthrough character that in 1979, ABC spun Guillaume off into his own eponymous series, in which he eventually, improbably, ran for the office of governor of a Southern state. Nominated seven times, he would become the first African-American to win a Best Actor Emmy. He went on to establish himself as a go-to voiceover actor with extensive work in Disney's much-traveled "Lion King" franchise as the wise Rafiki. His most extended return to series TV, "Sports Night" (ABC, 1998-2000), was conspicuously marked by a stroke he suffered on-set and the producers' and Guillaume's decision to write it and the subsequent recovery process into his character's arc. Though more broadly remembered for his signature sitcom work, Guillaume built a legacy as a multi-gifted performer who defied the traditional parameters too long drawn for African-American thespians. His death on October 24, 2017 from prostate cancer at the age of 89 was mourned by generations of fans and fellow actors.
Photos
Robert Guillaume
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
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No Score Yet |
|
Columbus Circle | Howard Miles (Character) | - | 2010 |
No Score Yet |
|
Satin | Doc (Character) | - | 2010 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry | Mr. Barnes (Character) | $1.4M | 2008 |
76% |
|
The Lion King 1 1/2 | Rafiki (Voice) | - | 2004 |
76% |
|
Big Fish | Dr. Bennett (Senior) (Character) | $66.3M | 2003 |
40% |
|
The 13th Child, Legend of the Jersey Devil | Riley (Character) | - | 2002 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina | Ben (Voice) | - | 2002 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Land Before Time: The Big Freeze | Mr. Thicknose (Voice) | - | 2001 |
67% |
|
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride | Rafiki (Voice) | - | 1998 |
No Score Yet |
|
His Bodyguard | Garrett (Character) | - | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story | Reverend Devers (Character) | - | 1996 |
20% |
|
First Kid | Wilkes (Character) | $26.5M | 1996 |
No Score Yet |
|
Panic in the Skies! | Rob Barnes (Character) | - | 1996 |
No Score Yet |
|
A Good Day to Die | Mossburger (Character) | - | 1995 |
92% |
|
The Lion King | Raifiki the Mandrill (Voice) | $95.6M | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cosmic Slop | Gleason Golightly (Character) | - | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Greyhounds | Robert Smith (Character) | - | 1994 |
25% |
|
The Meteor Man | Ted Reed (Character) | $8.0M | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story | Police Commissioner (Character) | - | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | You Must Remember This | Uncle Buddy (Character) | - | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | In a New Light '92 | Unknown (Character) | - | 1992 |
0% |
|
Death Warrant | Hawkins (Character) | $15.1M | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Penthouse | Eugene St. Clair (Character) | - | 1989 |
68% |
|
Lean on Me | Dr. Frank Napier (Character) | $28.9M | 1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fire and Rain | Carter (Character) | - | 1989 |
No Score Yet |
|
They Still Call Me Bruce | V.A. Officer Johnson (Character) | - | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel | Harlan Wade (Character) | - | 1987 |
30% |
|
Wanted: Dead or Alive | Philmore Walker (Character) | $6.5M | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Prince Jack | Martin Luther King (Character) | - | 1984 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Kid With the 200 I.Q. | Professor Mills (Character) | - | 1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Kid With the Broken Halo | Blake (Character) | - | 1982 |
70% |
|
Seems Like Old Times | Fred (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Kid From Left Field | Larry Cooper (Character) | - | 1979 |
No Score Yet |
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Superfly T.N.T. | Jordan Gaines (Character) | - | 1973 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | 56% | Timon & Pumbaa |
Rafiki (Character), Unknown (Voice) |
1995-1996 2018 |
No Score Yet | 80% | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2008 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Century City | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2004 |
58% | 48% | 8 Simple Rules | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2003 |
No Score Yet | 39% | The Proud Family | Dr. Parker (Guest Voice) | 2002 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child |
Unknown (Voice), Narrator |
1999-2000 |
90% | 92% | Sports Night | Isaac Jaffee (Character) | 1998-2000 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Outer Limits | Mr. Brown (Character) | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Touched by an Angel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Goode Behavior | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |
9% | No Score Yet | Sparks | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Children of the Dust | Unknown (Character) | 1995 |
No Score Yet | 91% | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1994 |
No Score Yet | 78% | The New Adventures of Captain Planet | Citizen (Guest Voice) | 1994 |
43% | No Score Yet | Burke's Law | Eugene Sayers (Guest Star) | 1994 |
9% | 88% | Saved by the Bell: The College Years | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | A Different World | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1991-1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sister Kate | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hotel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Benson | Benson DuBois (Character) | 1979-1986 |
No Score Yet | 75% | North and South | Frederick Douglass (Character) | 1985 |
No Score Yet | 58% | Saturday Night Live | Host | 1983 |
No Score Yet | 94% | Soap |
Unknown (Character), Unknown (Guest Star) |
1977-1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Good Times | Fishbone; Theodopius P. Johnson (Guest Star) | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Jeffersons | Charles Thompson (Guest Star) | 1975 |
No Score Yet | 89% | All in the Family | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sanford and Son | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Aaron Carothers (Guest Star) | 1970 |