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ROBERT GUILLAUME:
DEFYING THE ODDS
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By Christine Imbs
“I can’t have a stroke. Disney doesn’t allow it. Not during business hours.”
These are the words actor Robert Guillaume recalls uttering to hospital personnel in 1999. He was in his dressing room on the set of his television show, Sports Night, when something went terribly wrong. “Initially I had trouble after the stroke,” he says. “Fortunately, it didn’t affect my voice too much.”
The stroke did cause some immediate paralysis, and Guillaume’s speech was temporarily impacted. But his recovery was remarkable, and he was able to return to Sports Night for the season finale.
“While I was in the hospital, my wife, Donna, suggested to the producers that they write the stroke into the show. That way I wouldn’t have to pretend I didn’t have one,” he explains. “Fortunately, they bought the idea and that enabled me to come back.”
Overcoming difficulties is nothing new to Guillaume. He describes his mother growing up as young, abused and unstable. He and his three siblings—one brother and two sisters—were raised by their grandmother here in St. Louis. “She took the four of us children into her bailiwick and kept body and soul together on very little,” he remembers. “I shudder to think where any of us would have been had she not.”
One of the things his grandmother insisted on was that they get a good education—and that meant attending Catholic schools. They lived on Franklin Street in downtown St. Louis and attended St. Nicholas’ grade school. It was here Guillaume began singing in the choir. He later studied with the Jesuits at Saint Louis University and then Washington University, where he pursued a course in operatic singing.
“I was a bit of a rebel in the sense that I was always going to be in trouble if I worked for someone. So I figured the least kind of restraint on my predilections would be if I were in show business,” he says, laughing. “That’s why the operatic courses. It was great.”
After leaving St. Louis in 1960, Guillaume began building a successful stage and musical career on Broadway. From the very beginning, he sought to defy stereotypes.
“A concern of mine has always been the image of Black people,” he says. “I’ve always tried to make sure that what I was doing was at the highest level I could perform. I wanted to give a positive portrayal. The truth as I saw it, as opposed to some conventional idea of stereotype.”
His portrayal of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, accompanied by an all-black cast, earned him a Tony nomination early in his career. He received two Emmys in the late 1970s for the television show Benson, playing the title character. In 1990, he took over the lead role from Michael Crawford in the Los Angeles production of The Phantom of the Opera, becoming the first Black actor in history to star in the role. He has also won a Grammy Award for his reading of The Lion King.
“This was like a realization of all the things I’d thought about when I got into this business, being offered a part that wasn’t especially written for a Black actor,” he says, speaking of “The Phantom.” “Nothing could have filled the bill better.”
Guillaume, 76, was inducted into the
St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1999.
Asked what his grandmother would have thought of his success and he becomes thoughtful. “My grandmother was born in 1880 and died in 1951, so she didn’t get to see my success. I’m not sure. But I think she saw something in me,” he says. “I don’t think she would be surprised.”
FAMILY: Married with three daughters and one living son.
CAREER HIGH POINT: Playing The Phantom of the Opera
WHAT HE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE DONE: More films.
LAST FILM: In 2003 he played Dr. Bennett in Big Fish.
ST. LOUIS FIRST: Was one of the first Black street car conductors.
FAVORITE BOOKS: Biographies. The latest was on Lyndon Johnson
by Robert Caro.
FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: Hawaii
THOUGHTS ON ACTING: “It filled a need in me to do something
worthwhile with my life.”
THOUGHTS ON TELEVISION: “I don’t know that television is
representative of the art of acting. I believe it’s the natural level
of television to go down.”
THOUGHTS ON GROWING UP IN ST. LOUIS: “I had a good time as
a kid. I was sort of proud of being from St. Louis.”
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