Geoffrey Holder(1930-2014)
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Composer
Dancer, choreographer and actor Geoffrey Holder was born on August 1,
1930, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, into a middle-class family. One of
four children, he was taught painting and dancing by his older brother
Boscoe Holder, whose dance troupe, the
Holder Dance Company, the young Geoffrey joined when he was seven years
old. Geoffrey assumed direction of the company in the late 1940s after
Boscoe moved to London.
Holder moved to the US in 1954, two years after being "discovered" by
Agnes de Mille, the choreographer
daughter of director-producer
Cecil B. DeMille, after she saw the
Holder Dance Company perform in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Holder, a
talented painter, sold a score of his paintings to raise the funds to
bring the Holder Dance Company to New York City in 1954 (in 1957 Holder
won a Guggenheim Fellowship to study painting). He would appear with
his dance company, now titled Geoffrey Holder and Company, in New York
through 1960.
On December 30, 1954, Holder made his Broadway debut (as did
Diahann Carroll) at the Alvin Theatre in
the Caribbean-themed original musical "House of Flowers", with music by
Harold Arlen, who also co-wrote the book
with Truman Capote. The cast included
Pearl Bailey and
Alvin Ailey, and the show was directed by
Peter Brook.
Herbert Ross did the choreography
but the "Banda Dance" was choreographed by Holder. The show ran for 165
total performances but, more importantly, Holder met and married fellow
cast member 'Carmen DeLavallade', a dancer, and the two had a son
together. From 1955 through 1956 Holder was a principal dancer with the
Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
Holder played the role of Lucky in a revival of
Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"
directed by Herbert Berghof on Broadway
in January 1957. The all-black cast also included
Geoff Searle as Vladimir,
Rex Ingram as Pozzo and
Mantan Moreland as Estragon. The show
only lasted six performances, but it established Holder as an actor,
and he made his film debut four years later in
All Night Long (1962), a modern
gloss on
William Shakespeare's
"Othello". His most famous role was as the heavy "Baron Samedi" in the
James Bond movie
Live and Let Die (1973),
Roger Moore's first turn as 007.
Holder won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for his
staging of the Broadway musical "The Wiz" (1975), the all-African
American retelling of "The Wizard of Oz." He also won the Tony for best
costume design (he would be nominated again for a Tony for best costume
design for the original 1978 Broadway musical "Timbuktu!", which he
also directed and choreographed). As a choreographer he has created
dance pieces for many companies, including the Alvin Ailey American
Dance Theater.
Holder has written two books, one on folklore and one on Caribbean
cuisine. In the 1970s and 1980s, he put his striking 6'6" presence and
bass voice to good use hawking various products in TV commercials,
including soft drinks.
1930, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, into a middle-class family. One of
four children, he was taught painting and dancing by his older brother
Boscoe Holder, whose dance troupe, the
Holder Dance Company, the young Geoffrey joined when he was seven years
old. Geoffrey assumed direction of the company in the late 1940s after
Boscoe moved to London.
Holder moved to the US in 1954, two years after being "discovered" by
Agnes de Mille, the choreographer
daughter of director-producer
Cecil B. DeMille, after she saw the
Holder Dance Company perform in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Holder, a
talented painter, sold a score of his paintings to raise the funds to
bring the Holder Dance Company to New York City in 1954 (in 1957 Holder
won a Guggenheim Fellowship to study painting). He would appear with
his dance company, now titled Geoffrey Holder and Company, in New York
through 1960.
On December 30, 1954, Holder made his Broadway debut (as did
Diahann Carroll) at the Alvin Theatre in
the Caribbean-themed original musical "House of Flowers", with music by
Harold Arlen, who also co-wrote the book
with Truman Capote. The cast included
Pearl Bailey and
Alvin Ailey, and the show was directed by
Peter Brook.
Herbert Ross did the choreography
but the "Banda Dance" was choreographed by Holder. The show ran for 165
total performances but, more importantly, Holder met and married fellow
cast member 'Carmen DeLavallade', a dancer, and the two had a son
together. From 1955 through 1956 Holder was a principal dancer with the
Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
Holder played the role of Lucky in a revival of
Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"
directed by Herbert Berghof on Broadway
in January 1957. The all-black cast also included
Geoff Searle as Vladimir,
Rex Ingram as Pozzo and
Mantan Moreland as Estragon. The show
only lasted six performances, but it established Holder as an actor,
and he made his film debut four years later in
All Night Long (1962), a modern
gloss on
William Shakespeare's
"Othello". His most famous role was as the heavy "Baron Samedi" in the
James Bond movie
Live and Let Die (1973),
Roger Moore's first turn as 007.
Holder won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for his
staging of the Broadway musical "The Wiz" (1975), the all-African
American retelling of "The Wizard of Oz." He also won the Tony for best
costume design (he would be nominated again for a Tony for best costume
design for the original 1978 Broadway musical "Timbuktu!", which he
also directed and choreographed). As a choreographer he has created
dance pieces for many companies, including the Alvin Ailey American
Dance Theater.
Holder has written two books, one on folklore and one on Caribbean
cuisine. In the 1970s and 1980s, he put his striking 6'6" presence and
bass voice to good use hawking various products in TV commercials,
including soft drinks.