Racism-Free United States of America: Robert Guillaume - Essay Example

Soon after, Robert joined the prestigious music school of Washington University. Finally, at the age of 31, Robert had his professional debut in Karamu's production of Carousel (answers.com, nd). . Ever since Robert performed at several productions by various theatre groups. He kept jumping careers, joining new groups, visiting places and continuously improving his performances. In 1970 when he first appeared in Someplace to be Somebody, he called it his first real acting debut. Robert Guillaume was one such actor who continually defied stereotypes.

His commanding theatrical presence brought the actor a 1977 Tony nomination for his portrayal of Nathan Detroit in "Guys and Dolls," with an all-black cast (speakingofstories.org). He had finally arrived. On his next project, Benson that had an interracial casting, Robert insisted on his character being equal to that of any other character; eventually, his character turned out to be the most brilliant. Soon he left for television. This was mainly because he was informed that the movie market was not doing very well.

He got a character of a butler for the nighttime satire called Soap. In 1979 he received an Emmy award for this role. Soon his roles caught the attention of the top league and he was given a chance to add a 3-dimension persona to his role in Benson to reflect the progress of the Afro-American community in America. Such a position had never been attained by minorities in America in the theatre field. After his stint with television, Guillaume hit the nightclub circuits, singing in places like Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

He also formed his own production company, Longridge Enterprises. This company was to develop acting projects. Perhaps his greatest theatrical achievement came in 1990 when he was chosen to play the character of Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's spectacular musical The Phantom of the Opera. His selection was met with controversy by several audiences.