A man who brought gravitas, joy and a huge amount of talent to every role he played on stage and screen, has died. Robert Guillaume was 89.
Born Robert Williams in St. Louis, Missouri in 1927, Guillaume was raised by his maternal grandmother. He served in the US Army before attending St. Louis University to study business administration. But Guillaume's heart was in singing, and he ended up winning a scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival. From there, he apprenticed at Cleveland's Karamu Theatre, appearing in operas and musical comedy.
That in turn led to Broadway, and he appeared in a number of musicals and plays including Finian's Rainbow, and was nominated for a Tony for playing Nathan in Guys And Dolls. He also forged a healthy film career, with his cinematic CV featuring such titles as Lean On Me, Big Fish, Prince Jack and, most famously, he played Rafiki in Disney's animated The Lion King and its various spin-offs.
But he was best known for his TV work, stealing scenes in Soap in the 1970s and 1980s, and seeing his role score its own series, Benson, which ran from 1979 until 1986. The role landed him an Emmy Award and numerous nominations). Another much-loved performance was as Isaac Jaffe in Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night, notable for his easy authority and way with a speech. He famously suffered a stroke during the run of the show, which was then incorporated into the story. "I was fortunate in the sense that the stroke I suffered was not so debilitating that I could not move around with some degree of regularity," he said in a 2008 interview. "My wife Donna suggested to Aaron that perhaps we could incorporate the stroke into the series and he agreed... it allowed me to come back and not pretend that I had not had a stroke."
Guillaume died on Tuesday at his home. He's survived by his wife Donna and four children.