Robert Guillaume may have only appeared on three episodes of "A Different World," but he holds the distinction of playing two different characters: Dean Winston and Professor Murphy. And really, why not? Guillaume had played a seriously wide array of roles by the time he landed on "A Different World," after all. Guillaume was likely best known for playing Frederick Douglass on the ABC miniseries "North and South," and Benson DuBois on the same network's soap opera sitcom, "Soap." He did such a great job in the latter role that the character's spin-off series, "Benson," ended up running much longer than its parent show.
"The minute I saw the script, I knew I had a live one," Guillaume said of "Soap" in 2001 (via The Chicago Tribune). "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."
Amazingly enough, Benson wasn't even Guillaume's last iconic role. He was also a prominent voice actor, and, in 1994, gained international renown for his performance as Rafiki in Disney's "The Lion King" (via The New York Times). He went on to reprise the role many times in a variety of media. After years of achievement, Guillaume died of prostate cancer on October 24, 2017, at the age of 89.
