Robert Guillaume

His distinctive voice has also been used for characters in television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Fish Police, and Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child and for the voice of Rafiki in the movie The Lion King and its sequels. Hudson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Blvd. Guillaume has also appeared in a number of films, including Seems Like Old Times (1980), Lean on Me (1989), First Kid (1996), and Big Fish (2003). Following Hudson's death, his live-in lover Marc Christian filed a palimony lawsuit against his estate and won. He recovered and his character was later also depicted as having had a stroke. Hudson remained in the closet until his sexual orientation became known toward the end of his life. Guillaume suffered a mild stroke on January 14, 1999, while filming an episode of the latter series. Hudson was reportedly very good friends with Jim Nabors of television's Gomer Pyle.

He also appeared as marriage counselor Edward Sawyer on The Robert Guillaume Show (1989), Detective Bob Ballard on Pacific Station (1991), and television executive Isaac Jaffe on Sports Night (1998-2000). The studio was likely using this sham marriage in order to cover Hudson's homosexuality, which would have made him box office poison at the time if it were made known. Guillaume made his television debut in the series Soap, playing Benson DuBois on that series from 1977 to 1979 and then on a spinoff series, Benson, until 1986; he won Emmy Awards for both series, in 1979 and 1985. The couple divorced in 1958. Other stage appearances included Golden Boy, Guys and Dolls, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, Phantom of the Opera (succeeding Michael Crawford in the lead role), and Purlie Victorious, for which he won a Tony Award. Hudson married studio employee Phyllis Gates in 1955, and the news was made known by all the major gossip magazines. He made his Broadway debut in Kwamina in 1961. James in the popular American television series McMillan and Wife that aired on NBC.

Louis University and Washington University and served in the United States Army before pursuing an acting career. From 1971 to 1978, Hudson starred opposite Susan St. He studied at St. Many consider his performance as the elderly New York City banker Arthur Hamilton turned young Malibu painter Tony Wilson in the 1966 science fiction film by director John Frankenheimer,Seconds, as the finest of his career. Louis, Missouri. The two made Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers together. Guillaume was born as Robert Williams in St. During the 1950s and 1960s, Hudson was known for several fluff comedies, largely starring with Doris Day.

Robert Guillaume (born November 30, 1927) is an American stage and television actor. In 1956 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and two years later, Look Magazine named him Star of the Year. His one line took 38 takes, because he kept forgetting it. His good looks and strapping size got him a Hollywood audition, and some capped teeth and a name change got him a small part in the forgettable 1948 film Fighter Squadron. Hudson served in the United States Navy during World War II as an airplane mechanic.

His announcement, and subsequent death from the disease at the age of only 59, brought the disease and HIV into the mainstream of American consciousness. Born in Winnetka, Illinois, Hudson was the first major American celebrity to admit to being afflicted with AIDS. Roy Harold Scherer Jr. (November 17, 1925 - October 2, 1985), better known as Rock Hudson, was an American actor.