Geoffrey Holder
Encyclopedia
Geoffrey Richard Holder (born 1 August 1930) is a Trinidadian
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, choreographer, director, dancer, painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, costume designer
Costume Designer
A costume designer or costume mistress/master is a person whose responsibility is to design costumes for a film or stage production. He or she is considered an important part of the "production team", working alongside the director, scenic and lighting designers as well as the sound designer. The...

, singer and voice-over artist.

Early life

Born in Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...

, Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

 of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n descent, Holder is a Tony-award winning stage director and costume designer. He is known for his height (6'6"), heavily-accented deep basso
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...

 voice and "hearty laugh."

One of four children, Holder attended The Tranquillity School and secondary school at Queens Royal College in Port-of-Spain. At age seven, he began dancing in his brother's company.

Career

In 1952, the choreographer Agnes de Mille
Agnes de Mille
Agnes George de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMille and her uncle Cecil B. DeMille were both Hollywood directors...

 saw Holder dance on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. She invited him to New York; he would teach at the Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator, and activist...

 School of Dance for two years. He was a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York from 1955-1956.

In 1955, Holder married dancer Carmen De Lavallade
Carmen De Lavallade
Carmen De Lavallade is a dancer, choreographer, professor and stage and film actress.-Early Years:Carmen De Lavallade was born in Los Angeles on March 6, 1931, to Afro-Creole parents from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised by her aunt who owned one of the first African American history...

, whom he met when both were in the cast of House of Flowers
House of Flowers
House of Flowers may refer to:* Tito's mausoleum, whose Serbian name Kuća Cveća means "House of Flowers"* A short novella by Truman Capote, usually published along with his longer novella Breakfast at Tiffany's...

, a musical by Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...

 (music and lyrics) and Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...

 (lyrics and book). They were the subject of a 2004 film, Carmen & Geoffrey. They live in New York City and have one son, Leo Anthony Lamont. Holder's brother was the London-based artist Boscoe Holder
Boscoe Holder
Boscoe Holder , born Arthur Aldwyn Holder in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, of partly Barbadian stock, was Trinidad and Tobago's leading contemporary painter, who also had a celebrated international career spanning six decades as a designer and visual artist, dancer, choreographer and musician...

.

Holder began his movie career in the 1962 British film All Night Long, a modern remake of Shakespeare’s Othello. He followed that with Doctor Doolittle (1967) as Willie Shakespeare. In the 1972, he was cast as the Sorcerer in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). The following year he was a henchman - Baron Samedi - in the Bond movie Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die (film)
Live and Let Die is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman...

; Holder also contributed to the film's choreography. In addition to his movie appearances, Holder became a spokesman for the 1970s 7 Up
7 Up
7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo in the rest of the world, including Puerto Rico, where the concentrate is manufactured at the Pepsi facility in Cidra...

 soft drink
Soft drink
A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...

 "uncola" advertising campaign
Advertising campaign
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication...

.

In 1975 Holder won two Tony Awards for direction and costume design of The Wiz
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...

, the all-black musical version of The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz may refer to:*The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a 1900 book by L. Frank Baum and W.W. Denslow*The Wizard of Oz , a musical by L...

. Holder was the first black man to be nominated in either category. He also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...

. The show ran for 1672 performances over a four-year period; it was revived in 1984.

As a choreographer, Holder has created dance pieces for many companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is a modern dance company based in New York, New York. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey...

, for which he provided choreography, music and costumes for "Prodigal Prince" (1967), and the Dance Theatre of Harlem
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Dance Theatre of Harlem is a ballet company and school of the allied arts founded in Harlem, New York City, USA in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook...

, for which he provided choreography, music and costumes for Dougla (1974) and designed costumes for Firebird (1982). In 1978, Holder directed and choreographed the Broadway musical "Timbuktu!". Holder's 1957 piece "Bele" is also part of the Dance Theater of Harlem repertory.

In the 1982 movie version of the musical Annie
Annie (film)
Annie is a 1982 American musical film directed by John Huston and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The film is an adaption of the 1977 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. The movie features music by Charles Strouse,...

, Holder played the role of Punjab. He was also the voice of Ray in Bear in the Big Blue House
Bear in the Big Blue House
Bear in the Big Blue House is a television program for young children produced for the Playhouse Disney channel by Mitchell Kriegman and The Jim Henson Company. It first aired in 1997, and re-runs of the show continue to air on Playhouse Disney . It is produced by The Jim Henson Company and Shadow...

and also provided narration for Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...

's version of Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...

's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of the eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka....

. He reprised his role as the 7 Up Spokesman in the 2011 season finale of "The Celebrity Apprentice," where he appeared as himself in a commercial for "7 Up Retro" for Marlee Matlin
Marlee Matlin
Marlee Bethany Matlin is an American actress. She is the only deaf actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for Children of a Lesser God. Her work in film and television has resulted in a Golden Globe award, with two additional nominations, and four Emmy...

's team.

He is also a prolific painter, ardent art collector, book author and music composer. As a painter, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship. A book of his photography, Adam, was published by Viking in 1986.

Productions

Broadway

  • Waiting for Godot
    Waiting for Godot
    Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...

    - Revival (all black
    Black people
    The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...

     cast), 1957 - Performer
  • House of Flowers, Original Musical, 1964 - Banda dance choreography, performer
  • Josephine Baker
    Josephine Baker
    Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....

    - Musical Review, 1964 - Performer
  • The Wiz
    The Wiz
    The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...

    - Original Musical, 1975 - Direction, Costume Design (Tony Award for Best Costume Design and Best Direction of a Musical, 1975)
  • Timbuktu!
    Timbuktu!
    Timbuktu! is a musical, with lyrics by George Forrest and Robert Wright, set to music by Borodin, Forrest and Wright. The book is by Luther Davis. It is a resetting of Forrest and Wright's musical Kismet...

    - Original Musical, 1978 - Direction, Choreography, Costume Design, Playbill Cover Illustration
  • The Wiz
    The Wiz
    The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...

    , 1984 Revival
    Revival (play)
    A revival is a restaging of a stage production after its original run has closed. New material may be added. A filmed version is said to be an adaptation and requires writing of a screenplay....

     - Direction, Costume Design
  • The Boys' Choir of Harlem and Friends, Staged Concert, 1993 - Staging

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1962 All Night Long Film debut
1967 Doctor Dolittle
Doctor Dolittle (film)
Doctor Dolittle is a 1967 American musical film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley and Richard Attenborough. It's adapted by Leslie Bricusse from the novel series by Hugh Lofting, primarily The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, The Story of Doctor...

 
Willie Shakespeare
1972 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask  The Sorcerer
1973 Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die (film)
Live and Let Die is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman...

 
Baron Samedi also choreography
1975 The Noah
The Noah
The Noah is a complex and innovative feature film written and directed by Daniel Bourla, starring Robert Strauss in his final film performance. Noah , the sole survivor on our planet after a nuclear holocaust, finds himself unable to accept his unique predicament...

 
voice
1976 Swashbuckler
Swashbuckler (film)
Swashbuckler is a romantic adventure film produced in the U.S. by Universal Studios and released in 1976. It is a story that takes place in Jamaica in 1718 about a band of buccaneer pirates, led by Captain “Red” Ned Lynch, pitted against a greedy overlord, evil Lord Durant...

 
Cudjo
1978 Doctor J. Kanye 
1982 Annie
Annie (film)
Annie is a 1982 American musical film directed by John Huston and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The film is an adaption of the 1977 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. The movie features music by Charles Strouse,...

 
Punjab
1992 'Boomerang 
1998 Hasard ou Coincidence a Claude Lelouch movie
1999 Goosed 
2006 Joséphine Baker. Black Diva in a White Man's World
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1958 Aladdin
Aladdin (TV special)
Aladdin was a 1958 musical fantasy written especially for television with a book by S.J. Perelman and music and lyrics by Cole Porter, telecast in color on the DuPont Show of the Month by CBS. It was Porter's very last musical score. The musical was later presented on stage in London, premiering...

 
the Genie
1967 Androcles and the Lion
1983 Alice in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...

 
the Cheshire Cat
Cheshire Cat
The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll's depiction of it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Known for his distinctive mischievous grin, the Cheshire Cat has had a notable impact on popular culture.-Origins:...

 
1985 John Grin's Christmas  Ghost of Christmas Future
1988 The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...

 
choreography
1990 The 62nd Annual Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 
performing
1997 Bear in the Big Blue House
Bear in the Big Blue House
Bear in the Big Blue House is a television program for young children produced for the Playhouse Disney channel by Mitchell Kriegman and The Jim Henson Company. It first aired in 1997, and re-runs of the show continue to air on Playhouse Disney . It is produced by The Jim Henson Company and Shadow...

 
voice
2002-2003 Cyberchase
Cyberchase
Cyberchase is an American educational television series for children age 6-12, that teaches children discrete mathematics. The show airs on Public Broadcasting Service and PBS Kids GO! in the United States. Seasons one through five were produced by Thirteen/WNET New York and Nelvana...

 
Master Pi Episode 118, "Secrets of Symmetria"
Episode 209, "Double Trouble"
2011 Celebrity Apprentice
Celebrity Apprentice
Celebrity Apprentice is a variation of the TV series, The Apprentice, in which the competitors are already celebrities from various walks of life. Thus far, the concept has been used, with some variations, in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.Installments of the American series...

 

External links

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