Video Flashback: Remembering Tony Winner Geoffrey Holder
As BroadwayWorld reported yesterday, Tony Award-winning stage director and costume designer Geoffrey Holder passed away on Sunday, October 5th in Manhattan. According to family spokesman Charles M. Mirotznik, the cause of death was complications from pneumonia. Holder was 84 years old. Below, BroadwayWorld remembers the Broadway legend with a selection of videos highlighting his diverse career.
Born in Trinidad, the actor was well known for his grand stature, "hearty laugh" and heavily accented bass voice. In 1952, the choreographer Agnes de Mille saw Holder dance on Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands. She invited him to New York where he would eventually teach at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance for two years. He was a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York from 1955 to 1956.
In 1955, Holder married dancer Carmen De Lavallade, whom he met when both were in the cast of Broadway's House of Flowers, a musical by Harold Arlen (music and lyrics) and Truman Capote (lyrics and book). They were the subject of a 2004 film, Carmen & Geoffrey. He later played the role of Lucky in a revival of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" directed by Herbert Berghof on Broadway in January 1957. 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 also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design. The show ran for 1672 performances over a four-year period; it was revived in 1984.
