Robert Guillaume
- Highest Rated: The Lion King (1994)
- Lowest Rated: Spy Hard (1996)
- Birthday: Nov 30, 1927
- Birthplace: Not Available
-
The product of a tough, impoverished upbringing, African American actor Robert Guillaume fought his way out of the St. Louis slums by virtue of talent, persistence and an unwillingness to bow down to anyone. After military service and college, Guillaume held down short-term jobs ranging from cook to streetcar conductor, all the while training his voice for potential musical comedy work--training that paid off with his first Broadway show, 1961's Kwamina. Among his many stage credits were the musical versions of Golden Boy (with Sammy Davis Jr.) and Purlie Victorious, and the long-running review Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. When New York stage work was scarce, Guillaume created his own opportunities by giving one-man concerts. After guesting in several of the black-oriented TV sitcoms of the 1970s, Guillaume was cast in 1977 as the imperious, outspoken family retainer Benson in the daytime-drama parody Soap (the actor would be first to admit that many of Benson's more contentious traits sprang from Guillaume's own prickly personality). The role won Guillaume a 1978 Emmy as "Outstanding Supporting Actor." In 1979, Guillaume carried over his Soap role into his own starring series, the now classic sitcom Benson, which ran until 1986 and which won Guillaume another Emmy, this time as "Outstanding Lead Actor." Robert Guillaume also headlined the appropriately titled 1989 series The Robert Guillaume Show, wherein for approximately five months he starred as divorced marriage counselor Edward Sawyer. In the several years to follow, Guillaume would star in shows like Sports night, as well as a number of films like Big Fish and Satin.
Highest Rated Movies
-
The Lion King
93% -
-
Big Fish
75% -
Filmography
Movies
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Box
|
Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus Circle | Howard Miles | — | 2010 | |
| Satin | Doc Bishop | — | 2010 | |
| The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry | Mr. Barnes | $1.1M | 2008 | |
| 78% | The Lion King 1 1/2 | Rafiki | — | 2004 |
| 75% | Big Fish | Senior Dr. Bennett | $66.3M | 2003 |
| The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina | Ben | — | 2002 | |
| Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives | Actor | — | 2002 | |
| Land Before Time: The Big Freeze | Mr. Thicknose | — | 2001 | |
| Silicon Towers | Detective Green | — | 2000 | |
| Lady Liberty---A Musical Salute to America | Actor | — | 1999 | |
| The Happy Prince | Actor | — | 1999 | |
| 62% | The Lion King II: Simba's Pride | Rafiki | — | 1998 |
| His Bodyguard | Garrett | — | 1998 | |
| Easter Story Keepers | Actor | — | 1997 | |
| Pandora's Clock (Doomsday Virus) | Amb. Lee Lancaster | — | 1996 | |
| Panic in the Skies! | Barnes | — | 1996 | |
| 23% | First Kid | Wilkes | — | 1996 |
| Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story | Rev. Devers | — | 1996 | |
| 8% | Spy Hard | Agent Steve Bishop | — | 1996 |
| Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | Narrator | — | 1995 | |
| Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | Narrator | — | 1995 | |
| Cosmic Slop | Actor | — | 1995 | |
| Children of the Dust | Jolson Mossburger | — | 1995 | |
| 93% | The Lion King | Rafiki | $94.3M | 1994 |
| 29% | The Meteor Man | Mr. Reed | — | 1993 |
| You Must Remember This | Uncle Buddy | — | 1992 | |
| Driving Miss Daisy | Actor | — | 1992 | |
| In a New Light '92 | Actor | — | 1992 | |
| Death Warrant | Hawkins | — | 1990 | |
| The Penthouse | Eugene St. Clair | — | 1989 | |
| 69% | Lean on Me | Dr. Frank Napier | — | 1989 |
| Fire and Rain | Actor | — | 1989 | |
| Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel | Actor | — | 1987 | |
| They Still Call Me Bruce | V.A. Officer Johnson | — | 1987 | |
| 33% | Wanted: Dead or Alive | Philmore Walker | — | 1987 |
| Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star | Actor | — | 1986 | |
| Prince Jack | Martin Luther King | — | 1985 | |
| The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins | Executive Producer | — | 1984 | |
| The Kid with the 200 I.Q. | Executive Producer Professor Mills | — | 1983 | |
| The Kid with the Broken Halo | Blake | — | 1982 | |
| 72% | Seems Like Old Times | Fred | — | 1980 |
| Superfly T.N.T. | Jordan Gaines | — | 1973 | |
| Purlie | Actor | — | 1963 | |
| The Kid from Left Field | Actor | — | 1953 |
TV
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Year |
|---|---|---|---|
|
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000-2015
|
Sonny Bridges |
|
|
| 58% |
8 Simple Rules
2002-2005
|
Cody Grant |
|
|
The Proud Family
2001-2005
|
Voice |
|
|
|
Moesha
1996-2001
|
Arthur |
|
|
| 90% |
Sports Night
1998-2000
|
Isaac Isaac Jaffe |
|
|
Touched by an Angel
1994-2003
|
Judge Dawes |
|
|
|
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
1990-1996
|
Pete Pete Flecher |
|
|
| 13% |
Saved by the Bell: The College Years
1993-1994
|
professor |
|
|
A Different World
1987-1993
|
Dean Winston Prof. Murphy |
|
|
|
Saturday Night Live
1975
|
Host Guest |
|
|
|
Soap
1977-1981
|
Benson Benson DuBois |
|
|
|
Good Times
1974-1979
|
Fishbone |
|
|
|
All in the Family
1971-1979
|
Dr. Franklin |
|
|
|
Sanford and Son
1972-1977
|
Albert Brock |
|
|
|
The Jeffersons
1975-1985
|
Thompson |
|
|
| 13% |
Fish Police
1992
|
Voice |
|
| 40% |
Pacific Station
1992
|
Det. Bob Ballard |
|
|
Timon & Pumbaa
1999
|
Voice |
|
QUOTES FROM Robert Guillaume CHARACTERS
- Dr. Bennett (Senior)
-
Not very excitin', is it? And I suppose if I had to choose between the true version and an elaborate one involvin' a fish and a wedding ring, I might choose the fancy version. But that's just me.
- William Bloom
-
I kinda like your version.
- Dr. Bennett (Senior)
-
Did your father ever tell you about the day you were born?
- William Bloom
-
A thousand times. He caught an uncatchable fish.
- Dr. Bennett (Senior)
-
Not that one. The real story. Did he ever tell you that.
- William Bloom
-
No.
- Dr. Bennett (Senior)
-
Your mother came in about three in the afternoon. Her neighbor drove her, on account of your father was on business in Wichita. You were born a week early, but there were no complication. It was a perfect delivery. Now, your father was sorry to miss it, but it wasn't the custom for the men to be in the room for deliveries then, so I can't see as it would have been much different had he been there. And that's the real story of how you were born.
- Rafiki
-
I Don't think this is going to work, But I trust you. I just hope you know what you're doing...
- Rafiki
-
I don't think this is going to work, But I trust you. I just hope you know what you're doing...
- Rafiki
-
Oh yes, the past can hurt. But, you can either run from it or, learn from it.
- Scar
-
Simba: Will you cut it out!? Rafiki: Can't cut it out! It grow right back!
- Simba
-
Will you cut it out!?
- Rafiki
-
Can't cut it out! It grow right back!
- Rafiki
-
Hakuna Matata.
- Timon's Mom
-
Ha-who-na ma-what-a?
- Simba
-
I think you are a little confused.
- Rafiki
-
Wrong! I'm not the one who's confused. You don't even know who you are!
- Rafiki
-
Wrong! I'm not the one who is confused. You don't even know who you are!
- Simba
-
Oh, and I suppose you know?
- Simba
-
Oh, and I suppose you know?
- Rafiki
-
Sure do. You're Mufasa's boy! [Simba turns around to look at him, shocked]
- Rafiki
-
Sure do. You are Mufasa's boy!
- Rafiki
-
Bye.
- Simba
-
(Gasps)
- Simba
-
Creepy little monkey. Will you stop following me? Who are you?
- Rafiki
-
The question is, *who* are you?
- Simba
-
(Sighs) I thought I knew. Now I'm not so sure.
- Simba
-
[sighs] I thought I knew. Now I'm not so sure.
- Rafiki
-
I know who you are. (Whispers) Come here, it's a secret. (Loudly) Asante sana, Squash banana, Wewe nugu, Mimi apana!
- Rafiki
-
I know who you are. [whispers] Come here, it's a secret. [loudly] Asante sana, Squash banana, Wewe nugu, Mimi apana!
- Simba
-
Enough already! What is that supposed to mean anyway?
- Rafiki
-
It means you are a baboon, and I'm not. Hehehehe!
- Rafiki
-
It means you are a baboon, and I'm not. Hehe!
- Rafiki
-
It is time!
- Rafiki
-
It is time.
- Rafiki
-
Asante sana squash banana, wewe nungu mimi hapana!
- Rafiki
-
Asante sana. Squash banana. Wewe nugu. Mimi apana.
- Rafiki
-
What was that?! Heh, heh. The weather. Pleah! Very peculiar. Don't you think?
- Simba
-
Yeah. Looks like the winds are changing.
- Rafiki
-
Ah, change is good.
- Simba
-
Yeah, but it's not easy. I know what I have to do, but... going back means I have to face my past. I have been running from it for so long.
- Timon
-
...just us and the little guy.
- Timon
-
Just us and the little guy.
- Rafiki
-
hehehe.. It's a girl.
- Rafiki
-
[laughing] It's a girl.
- Timon
-
oh, A GIRL!!!???
- Timon
-
Oh, a girl?!
- Rafiki
-
Oh Mufasa, you've been up there too long! Your head is in the clouds!
- Simba
-
You knew my father?
- Rafiki
-
Correction: I *know* your father.
- Rafiki
-
Correction. I *know* your father.
- Rafiki
-
The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.