‘Benson’ Actor Robert Guillaume Dead At Age 89
He’s lost his brave battle against prostate cancer.
Oct. 24 2017, Published 8:35 p.m. ET
Robert Guillaume passed away at home in Los Angeles on Tuesday at age 89 after he succumbed to complications related to his battle with prostate cancer.
Guillaume leaves behind his wife, Donna Brown Guillaume, and three daughters (a son passed away in 1990.)
The Emmy-Award winning actor shot to fame after he created the role of acerbic butler Benson Du Bois in 1977 for the television show Soap.
He then went on to the leading role in the popular program’s spinoff Benson, which enjoyed a seven-year run before coming to a close in 1986.
Talented Guillaume’s career also spanned movies — he appeared in films, such as 2003’s Big Fish and Columbus Circle, with Selma Blair, in 2011 — and he acted on stage in major productions — including Phantom of the Opera and Cyrano — The Musical.
“My acting ability would have sent me back to the post office,” Guillaume once joked. “It was my singing that got me jobs. Ironically, now, people think of me as an actor and don’t know me much as a singer.”
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