Two giants in the entertainment world are being remembered today: Robert Guillaume and Fats Domino.
ROBERT GUILLAUME
If being a first in history brings honor, then Robert Guillaume was indeed honorable.
Although he won an Emmy Award in 1985 for his portrayal of the title role in the hit television series “Benson,” Robert Guillaume was much more than his loveable TV character. Guillaume made entertainment history in 1990 as the first African-American actor to perform the title role in the long-running Broadway hit musical “The Phantom of the Opera,” replacing original star Michael Crawford.
“We cast Robert Guillaume because we auditioned countless people and he, by far, displayed the most authority and elegance,“ director Harold Prince said in a statement released at the time. “He has a lovely voice and a great command and understanding of the role. He has an intellect; he looks like a man who could write symphonies and operas and design buildings.”
Guillaume defied racial stereotypes and appeared in dozens of television shows, including “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons,” “Sanford and Son,” “Sports Night,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and “A Different World.” He was also the voice of Rafiki in the movie “The Lion King.”
Robert Guillaume passed away on Monday at the age of 89 after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was surrounded by his children and his wife, who remembered him lovingly.
“He kinda went the way everyone wishes they could, surrounded by love and in his sleep,” Donna Guillaume said. “He was a good father and a good husband. He was a great, great person.”
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FATS DOMINO
He was a pioneer of New Orleans R&B. He was considered one of the architects of Rock ‘N’ Roll. He also inspired the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and others.
Antoine “Fats” Domino is being mourned today by the music world after passing away on Tuesday at the age of 89.
In the 1940s, Domino was working at a mattress factory in New Orleans and playing piano at night. Recognizing that both his waistline and his fan base were expanding, a bandleader began calling him “Fats.” The name stuck.
Between 1950 and 1963, Domino hit the R&B charts a reported 59 times, and the pop charts a rollicking 63 times. He outsold Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly combined. Only Elvis Presley moved more records during the same stretch — and Presley cited Domino as the early master.
So how did a Haitian Creole son of plantation workers with a 4th-grade education in the Jim Crow South sell more than 65 million records?
According to those who knew and loved him, Domino could “wah-wah-waaaaah” and “woo-hooo!” like nobody else in the whole wide world — and he made piano triplets ubiquitous in rock ‘n’ roll. Known for such hits as “Walkin’ To New Orleans” and “Ain’t That A Shame,” his greatest hit, “Blueberry Hill” was not his own song. The tune was first published in 1940 after having already been recorded by Glenn Miller, Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong. However, once Domino got ahold of it in 1956 and added those right-hand triplets he was famous for, the song became unforgettable.
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RIP to both of them.