I had a rough morning today. Admittedly, it wasn’t as rough as the one that family and friends of the late Robert Guillaume had, as they mourned and managed his loss yesterday at the age of 89, after a lengthy illness. But it was rough nonetheless.
It took me a minute to figure out why Guillaume’s death hit me so hard. I didn’t watch his breakout series, Soap, or its spinoff, Benson during their initial runs. Both of those shows earned Guillaume comedy Emmys, and he was the first African American actor to win them. Guillaume also gave an absolutely stunning three season turn as Isaac Jaffe on the critically acclaimed Aaron Sorkin drama SportNight. But it was his performance as Rafiki in the Disney animated feature The Lion King that drew tears this morning Here’s why…
Click here to read MPC’s full tribute to Guillaume, published by the Huffington Post.
