Background:

Geoffrey Holder is a Trinidadian actor, choreographer, director, dancer, costume designer and voice over artist. He won two Tony Awards for direction and costume design of the original Broadway musical “The Wiz”(1975). He also received a Tony nomination for costume design for the original musical “Timbuktu!” (1979). As a performer, Holder has appeared in Broadway plays such as “House of Flowers” (1954), “Waiting for Godot” (1957) and “Josephine Baker” (1964) as well as in feature films like “Doctor Dolittle” (1967), “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask” (1972), “Live and Let Die” (1973), “Annie” (1982), “Boomerang” (1992) and “Goosed” (1999). In the 1970s, he became known as a spokesperson for the “7 Up” soft drink “uncola” advertising campaign. Holder has created dances pieces for numerous companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Holder is also a fertile painter. His works have been shown in several major international exhibitions. He has written several books, including a 1974 volume on Caribbean cooking.

Holder is married to Carmen De Lavallade. They have one son together.


Port-of-Spain

Childhood and Family:

In Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, West Indies, Geoffrey  Richard Holder was born on August 1, 1930, into a middle class family with four children. He was educated at The Tranquillity School and Queens Royal College in Port-of-Spain. He started dancing in his brother Boscoe Holder's company when he was seven years old. He later studied at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in NYC for two years. In 1957, Geoffrey won a Guggenheim Fellowship to study painting.

On June 26, 1955, Geoffrey married dancer Carmen De Lavallade, whom he met when they both appeared in the Harold Arlen and Truman Capote musical “House of Flowers” (1954). They live in New York City and have one son, Leo Anthony Lamont.  


Live and Let Die

Career:

Geoffrey Holder started his professional dancing career with his older brother Boscoe Holder's dance troupe, “Holder Dance Company,”  which young Holder joined when he was seven years old. He  took direction of the company in the late 1940s when Boscoe relocated to London.

Holder toured the West Indies and Puerto Rico before being discovered by choreographer Agnes de Mille in 1952 while he was dancing on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Two years later, he moved to New York City and took a two year training with Katherine Dunham for two years. In 1954, he made his New York stage debut in the musical “House of Flowers,” based on Truman Capote's novella of the same name. The show opened on Broadway on December 30, 1954 at the Alvin Theatre and played for 165 performances. The cast also included Pearl Bailey, Diahann Carroll, Juanita Hall and Ray Walston.

Holder became a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York from 1955 to 1956. He started heading his own dance company, Geoffrey Holder and Company, in 1956 and would appear as both an ensemble dancer and as soloist and choreographer in “outside” productions in New York through 1960. In January 1957, Holder made his dramatic debut in a revival of Samuel Beckett's “Waiting for Godot,” in which he was cast as Lucky. The production was directed by Herbert Berghof, with the all African American cast that also included Geoff Searle as Vladimir, Rex Ingram as Pozzo and Mantan Moreland as Estragon. Though the show only lasted for six performance, it did launch Holder as an actor.

In 1962, Holder made his feature film debut in “All Night Long,”  a modern remake of Shakespeare's “Othello,” and resurfaced five years later when he was cast as William Shakespeare X in “Doctor Dolittle” (1967), a musical film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley and Richard Attenborough. Despite negative critical reviews, the film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and won awards in the categories of Best Original Song and Best Visual Effects. Still in 1967, Holder portrayed Lion in a television movie adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play, “Androcles and the Lion” (NBC), opposite Norman Wisdom as Androcles. In 1968, Holder appeared as Mayko in two episodes of the television adventure series “Tarzan,” which starred Ron Ely as the titular character. In 1969, he had a small role in the Academy Award nominated adventure/drama film “Krakatoa: East of Java,” helmed by Bernard L. Kowalski.    

After guest starring in an episode of the Robert Wagner television series “It Takes a Thief” (1970), Holder was cast as the Sorcerer in “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask” (1972), a fourth film of Woody Allan and also his early smash hit. In the following year, he landed what was to be his most famous role to date, that of a henchman, Baron Samedi, in the James Bond film “Live and Let Die,” which was the first film to star Roger Moore as 007. Holder also contributed to the film's choreography. The same year, he also appeared in the made for television film “The Man Without a Country,” starring Cliff Robertson, Beau Bridges and Peter Strauss.

In 1975, Holder staged the musical “The Wiz,” which opened on Broadway on January 5, 1975 with Stephanie Mills as Dorothy, Hinton Battle as the Scarecrow, Tiger Haynes as the Tin Man, Ted Ross as the Lion, Dee Dee Bridgewater as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, André DeShields as the Wizard, Mabel King as Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West, Clarice Taylor as Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, Tasha Thomas as Aunt Em, and Ralph Wilcox as Uncle Henry. The production closed later on January 28, 1979, after 1,672 performances. The original Broadway production won seven Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Costume Design, the latter two were for Holder.      He also received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography and the nomination for Outstanding Director of a Musical. Holder also directed a revival ran of “The Wiz” on Broadway from  May to June 1984. Holder also directed, choreographed and costume designed the original Broadway musical “Timbuktu!,” from which he was nominated again for a Tony for Best Costume Design. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on March 1, 1978 and closed on September 10, 1978 after 221 performances and 22 previews.

Holder continued his screen career by providing the voice of Friday on the Robert Strauss drama film “The Noah” (1975) and playing Cudjo Quadrill in “Swashbuckler” (1976), a romantic adventure film directed by James Goldstone and starring Robert Shaw. In 1982, he was cast as Punjab, one of billionaire Oliver Warbucks' personal bodyguards in the John Hudson musical movie “Annie,” opposite Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Ann Reinking, Tim Curry, Edward Herrmann, and Aileen Quinn. Holder appeared in episodes of the television shows “ABC Weekend Specials” (1980) and “Great Performances” (1983) as well as in the TV films “John Grin's Christmas” (1986) and “Ghost of a Chance” (1987). He was a narrator on the Kim Eveleth award winning documentary film “Where Confucius Meets the New Wave” (1987).     

After about a decade of absence, Holder reappeared on the big screen when he was cast as Nelson in the comedy film “Boomerang” (1992), starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Reginald Hudlin. The film earned mixed reviews from critics, but was a commercial success. In the following year, Holder staged the concert of “The Boys' Choir of Harlem and Friends.” In 1994, he began his voiceover stint at the KYOT-FM in Phoenix, Arizona, a gig that he would keep until 2011. In 1997, he lent his voice to the character Ray the Sun on Playhouse Disney channel children's series, “Bear in the Big Blue House.” Holder was cast alongside Alessandra Martines, Pierre Arditi and Marc Hollogne in the French language drama film “Hasards ou coïncidences” (1998) and portrayed Dr. Bowman in the comedy film “Goosed” (1999), starring Jennifer Tilly, Danielle Harris and Joan Rivers.

Between 2002 and 2003, Holder lent his voice to episodes of the PBS educational television series “ Cyberchase,” as Master Pi. In 2005, he narrated Tim Burton's version of Roald Dahl's “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” In 2008, he provided narration for the animated film “The Magistical,” helmed by John Cernak and Danny Oakley. The same year, he also played Mr. Emory in the short film “Butterfield,” directed by Mark Hammond.

In 2011, Holder reprised his role as the 7 Up Spokesman in the season finale of “The Celebrity Apprentice,” in which  he appeared as himself in a commercial for “7 Up Retro” for Marlee Matlin's team.


Awards:

Tony: Best Direction of a Musical, “The Wiz,” 1975
Tony:  Best Costume Ddesign, “The Wiz,” 1975
Drama Desk: Outstanding Choreography, “The Wiz,” 1975  Show Less