“Forgotten Hollywood”- Television Stalwart Has Died…

Posted on October 24, 2017 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here… 

“`Robert Guillaume was a star in stage musicals and a winner of Emmy Awards for his portrayal of the sharp-tongued butler in the television sitcoms,  Soap and Benson. Among his achievements was portraying  Nathan Detroit in the first all-black cast of  Guys and Dolls, earning a Tony Awards nomination in 1977. He became the first African-American to sing the title role of  The Phantom of the Opera in a Los Angeles-based production, and was the voice of Rafiki in the film version of The Lion King.

“`After serving as an apprentice at theaters in Aspen and Cleveland, he toured with Broadway shows Finian’s Rainbow, Golden Boy, Porgy and Bessand began appearing on sitcoms, such as The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son. He guest-starred in Marcus Welby M.D., A Different WorldAll in the Family, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; and he co-starred in the television mini-series, North and South.

“`Robert Guillaume (above) was among the first celebrities to appear at HIV fundraisers. His son Jacques died of complications from AIDS in 1990.  In 1999, Bob suffered a minor stroke. Guillaume would resume his career and became a new spokesman for the American Stroke Association. He also made appearance for the American Heart Association.

“`Guillaume won a Grammy in 1995 when a read-aloud version of The Lion King, which he narrated, was cited for Best Spoken Word. He as also earned four NAACP Image Awards.

“`Robert Guillaume was 89.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 24th, 2017 at 4:42 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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