Geoffrey Holder Biography (1930?-)

Full name, Geoffrey Lamont Holder; born August 1, 1930 (one source cites 1931), in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, West Indies; son of Arthur (a sales representative) and Louise (maiden name, De Frense) Holder; married Carmen de Lavallade(an actress, dancer, and college professor), June 26, 1955; children: Leo Anthony Lamont. Addresses: Contact: Donald Buchwald Associates, 10 East44th St., New York, NY 10017.

Gender
Male
Occupation
Dancer, choreographer, director, actor, costume designer, singer, composer, writer
Birth Details
August 1, 1930?
Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, West Indies

Famous Works

  • CREDITS
  • Stage Appearances
  • (Broadway debut) Dancer, House of Flowers, Alvin Theatre, 1954
  • Solo dancer, Aida, Metropolitan Opera Association, New York City,1956
  • Solo dancer, La perichole, Metropolitan Opera Association, 1956
  • Specialty dancer, Show Boat, Jones Beach Marine Theatre, New YorkCity, 1957
  • Lucky, Waiting for Godot, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City,1957
  • Josephine Baker's Revue, Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City, 1964
  • Twelfth Night, Cambridge Drama Festival, MA, 1960
  • Good Dragon, The Masque of St. George and the Dragon, Actors Studio, New York City, 1973
  • Yeshu, From the Memoirs of Pontius Pilate, Actors Studio, 1976
  • Night of One Hundred Stars Two, Radio City Music Hall, New York City, 1985
  • The Players Club Centennial Salute, Sam S. Shubert Theatre, New York City, 1989
  • Night of One Hundred Stars Three, Radio City Music Hall, 1990
  • Also appeared in Ballet Congo (revue); Bal Creole (revue);and Bal Negre (revue).
  • Stage Director
  • The Wiz, Majestic Theatre, New York City, 1975-78, then Broadway Theatre, New York City, 1978-84, later Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York City, 1984
  • Timbuktu!, Mark Hellinger Theatre, New York City, 1978
  • Stage Choreographer
  • Brouhaha, Folksbiene Playhouse, 1960
  • Mhil Daiim, Actors Studio, 1964
  • Three Songs for One, Ted Shawn Theatre, 1964
  • I Got a Song, Studio Arena Theatre, Buffalo, NY, 1974
  • Timbuktu!, Mark Hellinger Theatre, 1978
  • (And staging, with others) Fifty Golden Years of Showstoppers, Radio City Music Hall, 1982
  • Stage Costume Designer
  • The Twelve Gates, Ted Shawn Theatre, 1964
  • Three Songs for One, Ted Shawn Theatre, 1964
  • The Wiz, Majestic Theatre, New York City, 1975-78, then Broadway Theatre, New York City, 1978-84, later Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York City, 1984
  • Timbuktu!, Mark Hellinger Theatre, 1978
  • Major Tours
  • Director and costume designer, The Wiz, U.S. cities, 1977-?
  • Film Appearances
  • Carib Gold, 1957
  • Dancer, All Night Long, J. Arthur Rank, 1961
  • Willie Shakespeare, Doctor Dolittle, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1967
  • Bazooki man, Krakatoa, East of Java (also known as Volcano), Cinerama, 1969
  • Sorcerer, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex but Were Afraid to Ask (also known as Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex), United Artists, 1972
  • Baron Samedi, Live and Let Die, United Artists, 1973
  • Cujo Quadrill, Swashbuckler (released in England as The ScarletBuccaneer), Universal, 1976
  • Punjab, Annie, Columbia, 1982
  • Narrator, Dance Black America, Horizon Releasing, 1985
  • Edgar Allen Poe's The Gold Bug, 1990
  • Narrator, Tropical Rainforest, 1992
  • Nelson, Boomerang, 1992
  • Gerry, Hasards ou coincidences (also known as Chance or Coincidence), 1998
  • Dr. Bowman, Goosed, 1999
  • Film Work
  • Choreographer, Live and Let Die, 1973
  • Costume designer, The Wiz, 1978
  • Song performer, "We Got Annie," Annie, Columbia, 1982
  • Song performer, "For All We Know," Hasards ou coincidences (also known as Chance or Coincidence), 1998
  • Made a documentary film, based on his own story, in the 1950s with members of his dance company.
  • Television Appearances
  • Series
  • Chef du jour, 1995
  • Voice of Ray the Sun, Bear in the Big Blue House, The Disney Channel, 1998
  • Movies
  • Jupiter, The Gold Bug, 1981
  • Mr. Johnson, Ghost of a Chance, CBS, 1987
  • Specials
  • (With dance company) Genie, Aladdin, CBS, 1957
  • Narrator, The Bottle Imp, 1957
  • Lion, Androcles and the Lion, NBC, 1967
  • Slave on ship, The Man without a Country, ABC, 1973
  • Punjab, Lights, Camera, Annie!, 1982
  • The Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland, 1983
  • Ghost of Christmas Future, John Grin's Christmas (also known as Christmas), ABC, 1986
  • Sixteenth Annual Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, syndicated, 1989
  • Sixty-second Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1990
  • Episodic
  • Paul Trion, "Nice Girls Marry Stock Brokers," It Takes a Thief, 1970
  • The Tonight Show, 1975
  • Good Morning, America, ABC, 1976
  • Hour Magazine, 1984
  • Television Choreographer
  • "Dance Theatre of Harlem" (also known as "Dance in America"), Great Performances (special), PBS, 1977
  • (Opening theme only) The Cosby Show (series), NBC, 1984
  • RECORDINGS
  • Albums
  • Recorded Geoffrey Holder and His Trinidad Hummingbirds on the Riverside label; also recorded an album of song stories for Mercury records.
  • Video Games
  • Jean St. Mouchoir, Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller, 1995
  • WRITINGS
  • Novellas
  • (With Tom Harshman) Black Gods, Green Islands (collection), 1957
  • Cookbooks
  • Geoffrey Holder's Caribbean Cookbook, 1974
  • Other
  • Contributed articles to the New York Times Magazine,Show, Saturday Review, and Playbill.

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

    Books
    • St. James Guide to Black Artists, 1998. St. James Press,
    Periodicals
    • Dance Magazine, September, 2000, p. 14.
    • Jet, March 7, 1994, p. 8.
    • New York Times, May 25, 1975.

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