In 1990, Guillaume's distinctive voice helped him become the first black actor to play Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. He found more success with Benson, which ran from 1979 to 1986 and saw him receive an Emmy for outstanding lead actor-a first for a black actor. Guillaume appeared in Soap, for which he won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor, from 1977 to 1981. While Guillaume is best known for his role as butler Benson DuBois in the sitcoms Soap and its spin-off series Benson, providing the voice of the resistance leader/Alyx Vance’s father in the much-loved Half-Life 2 titles forever secured him a place in the hearts of gamers. His widow, Donna Brown, told the Associated Press he had been battling prostate cancer. Eli Vance, has died at the age of 89 at his home in Los Angeles. Robert Guillaume, the Emmy Award-winning actor famous in the gaming world for voicing Half-Life 2’s Dr.
