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Robert Guillaume

Highest Rated: 93% 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.

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Highest rated movies

93% 93% The Lion King Watchlist
76% 62% The Lion King 1 1/2
Watchlist
76% 89% Big Fish
Watchlist
70% 64% Seems Like Old Times
Watchlist
68% 85% Lean on Me
Watchlist
67% 61% The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Watchlist
40% 18% The 13th Child, Legend of the Jersey Devil
Watchlist
33% 49% Wanted: Dead or Alive
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27% 36% The Meteor Man
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20% 32% First Kid
Watchlist

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet 37% Columbus Circle Howard Miles (Character) - 2010
No Score Yet 59% Satin Doc (Character) - 2010
No Score Yet 84% The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry Mr. Barnes (Character) $1.4M 2008
76% 62% The Lion King 1 1/2 Rafiki (Voice) - 2004
76% 89% Big Fish Dr. Bennett (Senior) (Character) $66.3M 2003
40% 18% The 13th Child, Legend of the Jersey Devil Riley (Character) - 2002
No Score Yet 38% The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina Ben (Voice) - 2002
No Score Yet 54% The Land Before Time: The Big Freeze Mr. Thicknose (Voice) - 2001
67% 61% The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Rafiki (Voice) - 1998
No Score Yet 100% His Bodyguard Garrett (Character) - 1998
No Score Yet No Score Yet Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story Reverend Devers (Character) - 1996
20% 32% First Kid Wilkes (Character) $26.5M 1996
No Score Yet 43% Panic in the Skies! Rob Barnes (Character) - 1996
No Score Yet 76% A Good Day to Die Mossburger (Character) - 1995
93% 93% 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
27% 36% 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% 35% Death Warrant Hawkins (Character) $15.1M 1990
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Penthouse Eugene St. Clair (Character) - 1989
68% 85% 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 45% 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
33% 49% 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 60% 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% 64% Seems Like Old Times Fred (Character) - 1980
No Score Yet 42% The Kid From Left Field Larry Cooper (Character) - 1979
No Score Yet 18% 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% 53% 8 Simple Rules Unknown (Guest Star) 2003
No Score Yet 40% 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% 93% 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 57% Saturday Night Live Host 1983
No Score Yet 95% 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 85% 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