Actor Robert 'Benson' Guilliaume Dies at 89, Los Angles,USA

Emmy Award-winning actor Robert Guillaume, known for his role as dry-witted butler Benson Du Bois on the TV series Soap, has died.
Guillaume passed away at home Tuesday in Los Angeles, according to his widow, Donna Brown Guillaume.

Among Guillaume's achievements was playing Nathan Detroit in the first all-black version of Guys and Dolls, earning a Tony nomination in 1977.
He became the first African-American to sing the title role of Phantom of the Opera, appearing with an all-white cast in Los Angeles.

He also appeared in movies, including Meteor Man, First Kid and Spy Hard. He also won a Grammy for spoken word recording for The Lion King.

He had been battling prostate cancer, she told The Associated Press.

While playing in Guys and Dolls, he was asked to test for the role of an acerbic butler of a governor's mansion in Soap, a primetime TV sitcom that satirized soap operas.
'The minute I saw the script, I knew I had a live one,' he recalled in 2001. 'Every role was written against type, especially Benson, who wasn't subservient to anyone

To me, Benson was the revenge for all those stereotyped guys who looked like Benson in the '40s and '50s (movies) and had to keep their mouths shut.'
The character became so popular that ABC was persuaded to launch a spinoff, simply called Benson, which lasted from 1979 to 1986.

His work on Soap show won Guillaume won the Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series in 1979.
Guillaume's character had been a butler on 'Soap' but on 'Benson' he served as a state governor's director of household affairs, then state budget director, lieutenant governor and candidate for governor.

Guillaume won the Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series in 1985 for 'Benson,' the last of six times that he was nominated for an Emmy playing the character.
He became the first black actor to win that award.

The series made Guillaume wealthy and famous, but he regretted that Benson's wit had to be toned down to make him more appealing as the lead star.

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