Actor Robert Guillaume dies at 89


Emmy Award–winning actor Robert Guillaume, best known for playing the butler Benson DuBois in Soap and Benson and voicing Rafiki in The Lion King, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 89.
Guillaume's wife, Donna Brown Guillaume, told The Associated Press her husband had been battling prostate cancer. Guillaume won two Emmys for his portrayal of the acerbic butler Benson, and a Grammy in 1995 for narrating a version of The Lion King. He received a Tony nomination in 1977 for his performance as Nathan Detroit in an all-black production of Guys and Dolls, and starred in a Los Angeles production of Phantom of the Opera, the first black man to play the role. While starring in Sports Night in 1999, Guillaume had a minor stroke, which was written into the show.
Guillaume had a tough early life, writing in his 2002 autobiography, Guillaume: A Life, that his mother was a prostitute, they lived in the poorest slums of St. Louis, and he never knew his father. Before becoming an actor, he worked at a department store, a post office, and as the first black streetcar motorman in St. Louis.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play