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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