Robert Guillaume, who rose from squalid beginnings in St Louis slums to become a star in stage musicals and win Emmy Awards for his portrayal of the sharp-tongued butler in the TV sitcoms Soap and Benson, has died at age 89.

Guillaume died at home on Tuesday in Los Angeles, according to his widow, Donna Brown Guillaume.

He had prostate cancer, she said.

Among Guillaume's achievements was playing Nathan Detroit in the first all-black version of Guys and Dolls, earning him a Tony nomination in 1977.

He became the first African-American to sing the title role of Phantom of the Opera, in a Los Angeles-based production, and was the voice of the shaman-slash-mandrill Rafiki in the film version of The Lion King.

"Robert was a lovely man who we brought in for one interpretation of Rafiki and who then completely reinvented it working in the studio," Thomas Schumacher, president and producer of Disney Theatrical Productions, said in a statement.

"His passion and dedication and willingness to keep working created an indelible Disney character for the ages."

Guillaume won a Grammy in 1995 when a read-aloud version of The Lion King, which he narrated, was cited for best spoken word album for children.

He also served as narrator for the animated HBO series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, which aired form 1995-2000.

Actor Robert Guillaume (R) who starred on the television series Benson, Soap, and Sports Night poses with Bernie Kopell of the series The Love Boat as they arrive for the ABC television networks 50th anniversary in Hollywood March 16, 2003. ( Reuters: Fred Prouser )

'Benson was revenge for all the stereotyped guys'

While playing in Guys and Dolls, Guillaume was asked to test for the role of an acerbic butler of a governor's mansion in Soap, a prime-time TV sitcom that satirised soap operas.

"The minute I saw the script, I knew I had a live one," he recalled in 2001.

"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."

The character became so popular ABC was persuaded to launch a spin-off, simply called Benson, which ran from 1979 to 1986.

In the series, the main character went from running the kitchen for a governor to becoming a political aide to eventually becoming lieutenant governor.

Benson made Guillaume wealthy and famous, but he regretted his character's wit had to be toned down to make him more appealing as the lead star.

A troubled life

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He was born fatherless on November 30, 1927, in St. Louis, one of four children. His mother named him Robert Peter Williams; when he became a performer he adopted Guillaume, a French version of William.

His early years were spent in a back-alley apartment without plumbing or electricity; an outhouse was shared with two dozen people.

His alcoholic mother hated him because of his dark skin, and his grandmother rescued him, taught him to read and enrolled him in a Catholic school.

He fathered a daughter and abandoned the child and her mother.

He did the same to his first wife and two sons and to another woman and a daughter.

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He worked in a department store, the post office and as St. Louis's first black streetcar motorman.

Seeking something better, he enrolled at St. Louis University, excelling in philosophy and Shakespeare, and then at Washington University (St. Louis) where a music professor trained the young man's superb tenor singing voice.

After serving as an apprentice at theatres in Aspen, Colorado, and Cleveland, the newly named Guillaume toured with Broadway shows Finian's Rainbow, Golden Boy, Porgy and Bess and Purlie, and began appearing on sitcoms such as The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son.

Then came Soap and Benson.

His period of greatest success was marred by tragedy when his 33-year-old son Jacques died of complications from AIDS in 1990.

Guillaume's first stable relationship came when he married TV producer Donna Brown in the mid-1980s and had a daughter, Rachel.

AP