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Robert Guillaume (born Robert Peter Williams; November 30, 1927 – October 24, 2017) was the voice actor for Eli Vance in Half-Life 2 and the episodes. Guillaume had also appeared in a number of films, including Seems Like Old Times (1980), The Kid with the Broken Halo (co-starring Gary Coleman), Lean on Me (1989), First Kid (1996), Meteor Man and Big Fish (2003).

His voice had also been used for characters in television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Fish Police, and Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child and for the voice of Rafiki in the movie The Lion King and its sequels and spin-offs. He also voiced Mr. Thicknose in The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze. He is best known for his role as Benson Du Bois on the TV-series Soap and the spin-off Benson.[1]

Biography[]

Early life[]

Robert Guillaume was born Robert Peter Williams in St. Louis, Missouri[2] to an alcoholic mother.[3] After being abandoned by her, he and several siblings were raised by their grandmother Jeannette Williams.[4] He studied at St. Louis University and Washington University and served in the United States Army before pursuing an acting career.[5] He adopted the surname Guillaume (French for William) as his stage name.

Career[]

Stage[]

George Goodman, William Ray, Robert Guillaume, and Olive Moorefield, rehearsal of Porgy and Bess

George Goodman, William Ray, Robert Guillaume and Olive Moorefield, rehearsal of Porgy and Bess, Théâtre du Capitole. Archives de Toulouse.

After leaving university, Guillaume joined the Karamu Players in Cleveland and performed in musical comedies and opera. [6] He toured the world in 1959 as a cast member of the Broadway musical Free and Easy. [7] He made his Broadway debut in Kwamina in 1961. [8]

His other stage appearances included Golden Boy (with Sammy Davis Jr.), [9] Tambourines to Glory, Guys and Dolls, for which he received a Tony Award nomination,[10] Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and Purlie!.[11] His additional roles included Katherine Dunham's Bambouche and in Fly The Blackbird. [12]

In 1964 he portrayed Sportin' Life in a revival of Porgy and Bess at New York's City Center. [3] Guillaume was a member of the Robert de Cormier Singers, performing in concerts and on television. [4] He recorded a LP record, Columbia CS9033, titled Just Arrived as a member of The Pilgrims, a folk trio, with Angeline Butler and Millard Williams.[7] Columbia records producer, Tom Wilson, had set out to create the Pilgrims as an answer to the popular folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary.

By early 1964, the Pilgrims had recorded a handful of songs and Wilson was looking for the right song for the group's debut single when then unknown singer/songwriter, Paul Simon arrived for a meeting with Wilson and eventually pitched his new composition, "The Sound of Silence". Wilson liked the song, had Simon record a demo for the group, but when Simon and his friend, Art Garfunkel, sang the song for Wilson in person, he signed them to a record contract instead of using it for The Pilgrims. [13] (In the sixties he was in Vienna, Austria at the Vienna Volksoper, Marcel Prawy engaged Robert Guillaume for the role of Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess.)[6]

Later in his stage career, he was cast in the lead role in the Los Angeles production of The Phantom of the Opera replacing Michael Crawford.[8]

Television and voice acting[]

Robert Mandan Robert Guillaume SOAP 1977

Robert Guillamue as Benson in Soap, 1977.

Guillaume made several guest appearances on sitcoms, including Good Times, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Saved By The Bell: The College Years and in the 1990s sitcoms The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and A Different World.[9] Guillaume also played Dr. Franklin in season 6, episode 6 ("Chain Letter") of the series All in the Family, in which he coyly referenced Marcus Welby, M.D., a TV series in which he had guest-starred in 1970. [14]

His series-regular debut was on the ABC series Soap, playing Benson, a butler, from 1977 to 1979.[15] Guillaume continued the role in a spin-off series, Benson, which ran for 158 episodes from 1979 until 1986.[2] In 1985, Guillaume appeared in the television mini-series North and South as abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, who escaped from slavery and became a leader of the anti-slavery movement prior to the American Civil War.[4]

He also appeared as marriage counselor Edward Sawyer on The Robert Guillaume Show (1989), Detective Bob Ballard on Pacific Station (1991–1992), and television executive Isaac Jaffe on Aaron Sorkin's short-lived but critically acclaimed Sports Night (1998–2000).[3] Guillaume suffered a mild stroke on January 14, 1999, while filming an episode of the latter series.[1] He recovered and his character was later also depicted as having had a stroke. He also made a guest appearance on 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. He made one of his final TV appearances during season 5 on Oprah: Where Are They Now?

Works[]

  • Super Fly T.N.T. (1973) – Jordan Gaines
  • Good Times (1977) – Fishbone – Theodopius P. Johnson
  • Soap (1977–1980, TV series) – Benson DuBois
  • The Kid from Left Field (1979, TV movie) – Larry Cooper
  • Benson (1979–1986, TV series) – Benson DuBois
  • Seems Like Old Times (1980) – Fred
  • The Kid with the Broken Halo (1982, TV movie) – Blake
  • The Kid with the 200 I.Q. (1983, TV movie) – Professor Mills
  • Prince Jack (1985) – Martin Luther King Jr.
  • John Grin's Christmas (1986) – John Grin. Guillaume also directed film.
  • North and South (1985, TV miniseries) – Frederick Douglass
  • Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987) – Philmore Walker
  • They Still Call Me Bruce (1987) – V.A. Officer
  • Lean on Me (1989) – Dr. Frank Napier
  • The Penthouse (1989) – Eugene St. Clair
  • Death Warrant (1990) – Hawkins
  • Fish Police (1992) – Detective Catfish (voice)
  • The Meteor Man (1993) – Ted Reed, Jeff's Father
  • The Lion King (1994) – Rafiki (voice)
  • Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1994) – Citizen (voice)
  • Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1995–2000, TV series) – Narrator (voice)
  • Spy Hard (1996) – Agent Steve Bishop
  • First Kid (1996) – Wilkes
  • The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998, Video) – Rafiki (voice)
  • Sports Night (1998–2000, TV series) – Isaac Jaffe
  • Silicon Towers (1999) – Detective Green
  • The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze (2001, Video) – Mr. Thicknose (voice)
  • The 13th Child: Legend of the Jersey Devil (2002) – Riley
  • The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina (2002) - Ben
  • Unchained Memories (2003) – Reader
  • Big Fish (2003) – Dr. Bennett
  • Half-Life 2 (2004) - Eli Vance (voice)
  • The Lion King 1½ (2004, Video) – Rafiki (voice)
  • Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006)- Eli Vance (voice)
  • Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007)- Eli Vance (voice)
  • The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry (2009) – Mr. Barnes
  • Satin (2011) – Doc Bishop
  • Columbus Circle (2012) – Howard Miles
  • Sources: [2][7] [16] [17] [18] [19]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 http://articles.nydailynews.com/1999-01-21/entertainment/18099595_1_sports-night-producer-and-show-creator-robert-guillaume
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/obituaries/robert-guillaume-dead-emmy-winning-star-of-benson.html
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 https://biography.jrank.org/pages/2414/Guillaume-Robert.html
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20030108&slug=aaguillaume08
  5. https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-robert-guillaume-dead-20171024-story.html
  6. 6.0 6.1 https://biography.jrank.org/pages/2414/Guillaume-Robert.html
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-robert-guillaume-20171024-story.html
  8. 8.0 8.1 https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-02-va-34367-story.html
  9. 9.0 9.1 https://archive.org/details/guillaumelife00guil
  10. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XigxAAAAIBAJ&pg=4486,6581491&dq=robert-guillaume+tony&hl=en
  11. https://biography.jrank.org/pages/2414/Guillaume-Robert.html
  12. https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-robert-guillaume-dead-20171024-story.html
  13. http://peteramescarlin.com/homeward-bound/
  14. https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/marcus-welby-md
  15. https://web.archive.org/web/20171025022232/http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/television/article/Robert-Guillaume-Emmy-winning-for-Soap-actor-12302839.php
  16. https://ew.com/tv/2017/10/24/robert-guillaume-dead-benson-the-lion-king/
  17. https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/robert-guillaume/credits/172168/
  18. http://www.hollywood.com/celebrities/robert-guillaume-57264493/
  19. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/77925%7C0/Robert-Guillaume/#overview

External links[]


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