Farewell to a TV FAVORITE
THE BUTLER DID IT! FROM SOAP TO SPORTS NIGHT, THE ACTOR BEST KNOWN AS BENSON ALWAYS SCORED
Long before Raymond, “Everybody loved Benson,” Soap creator Susan Harris tells Closer of Robert Guillaume’s breakout character on the classic ’70s sitcom. “Actually, there were some similarities between Benson and Bob — both were no-nonsense guys and straight shooters. Bob was funny and a pleasure to work with.”
Benson proved so popular he got his own self-titled 1979–’86 spinoff, in which he rose from butler to governor, and Robert won two Emmys for the character. Still, he remained humble. “His license plate was ‘WHO KNEW’ — even he was astounded by where he’d gotten in life,” co-star Missy Gold (now known as Dr. Melissa Wiedmann) says of Robert, who died of prostate cancer at 89 on Oct. 24. “He was a great teacher. He taught me how to be a good person and to give back.”
Robert was much more than just Benson. Born in St. Louis, he served in the Army and studied opera before launching a successful musical-theater career, earning a Tony nomination for Guys and Dolls in 1977. That same year, Soap made him a household name. “Even when he played a butler, he was sassy, irreverent and the smartest guy in the room,” his widow, Donna Brown, tells Closer. “Benson was a servant, but he was never servile.”
Robert used his powerful voice to great effect as shamanistic mandrill Rafiki in The Lion King, winning a Best Spoken Word Album for Children Grammy for a read-along recording in 1995. He also drew raves as a TV journalist on Aaron Sorkin’s sitcom Sports Night; Robert suffered a stroke while doing the show in 1999 but later returned in force.
Offscreen, Robert was a true family man. He was married to Marlene Scott from 1955– ’84, and the couple had two children (their son, Jacques, tragically died at 33 in 1990 from AIDS-related complications). In 1986, Robert wed Donna, who became the mother of his daughter Rachel. “He was funny, smart and a good dad,” says Donna. “He was a really well-rounded person.”
— Bruce Fretts, with reporting by
Katie Bruno and Ilyssa Panitz
“When I decided that I wanted to be an actor, I knew I had to work hard and be great.” — Robert