Geoffrey Holder

Geoffrey Lamont Holder (August 1, 1930 – October 5, 2014) was a Trinidadian-American actor, dancer, musician, director, choreographer, and artist.

Early life Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on August 1, 1930, Holder was one of four children of Barbadian and Trinidadian descent born to Louise de Frense and Arthur Holder. He was educated at Tranquility School and Queen's Royal College in Port of Spain. Holder made his performance debut at age seven in his brother Boscoe Holder's dance company.

Career After seeing Holder perform in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, choreographer Agnes de Mille invited him to work with her in New York. Upon arriving, Holder joined Katherine Dunham's dance school, where he taught folkloric forms for two years.

From 1955 to 1956, Holder performed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet as a principal dancer.

In addition to his movie appearances, Holder was a spokesman in advertising campaigns for the soft drink 7 Up in the 1970s and 1980s, declaring it the "uncola", and, in the 1980s, calling it "crisp and clean, and no caffeine; never had it, never will".

In 1975, Holder won two Tony Awards for direction and costume design of The Wiz, the all-black musical version of The Wizard of Oz. Holder was the first Black man to be nominated in either category. He won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design. The show ran for 1,672 performances.

As a choreographer, Holder created dance pieces for many companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, for which he provided choreography, music, and costumes for Prodigal Prince (1967), and the Dance Theatre of Harlem, 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.

Holder portrayed Jupiter, the hulking manservant of an ill-fated treasure-hunter (Roberts Blossom), in a 1980 made-for-television adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Gold-Bug which also starred Anthony Michael Hall. In John Huston's 1982 film adaptation of the hit stage musical Annie, Holder played the role of Punjab, Albert Finney's bodyguard. He portrayed the Ghost of Christmas Future in John Grin's Christmas, a 1986 variation on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol directed by its star, Robert Guillaume. Holder portrayed Nelson in the 1992 film Boomerang with Eddie Murphy. He was also the voice of Ray in Bear in the Big Blue House and provided narration for Tim Burton's 2005 film version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Holder 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's team.

In 1990, Holder performed at the 62nd Academy Awards, singing "Kiss the Girl" and "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid. Three years later, Holder did a series of commercials for the Armory Auto Group auto dealership in Albany, New York.

Holder was a prolific painter (patrons of his art included Lena Horne and William F. Buckley, Jr.), ardent art collector, book author, and music composer. As a painter, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship in fine arts in 1956. A book of Holder's photography, Adam, was published by Viking Press in 1986.

In 2024, the Victoria Miro Gallery in London showed the joint exhibition Boscoe Holder | Geoffrey Holder, in which, according to The Guardians reviewer, "radiant, sensual paintings of black men and women reflect just how far ahead of their time the Holder brothers were", and which was described by Nicole-Rachelle Moore as "full of magic that is both familiar and incredible". A new text by Attillah Springer entitled Vetiver and Turpentine accompanied the show.

Personal life Holder (right) with his wife, Carmen de Lavallade. Photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1955.

Holder married Carmen de Lavallade (1931–2025) in 1955. They spent their lives in New York City and had a son, Léo. They were the subject of a 2005 documentary, Carmen & Geoffrey. His elder brother, Boscoe Holder, was a dancer, choreographer, and artist,

Death Geoffrey Holder died in New York City of complications from pneumonia on October 5, 2014, at age 84.

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