Geoffrey Holder

Geoffrey Holder

Born: August 1, 1930
Died: October 5, 2014
in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad of African descent, Holder was an actor known for his towering 200-centimeter (6'6") height, heavily accented deep basso voice and hearty laugh. With that and his appearance in the 1970s 7 Up soft drink "uncola" advertising campaign, Holder's image quickly became recognizable. He was also in the 1967 movie Dr. Dolittle as William Shakespeare, "Willy," and played Baron Samedi, one of the main villain's henchmen, in the 1973 James Bond film, Live and Let Die. Though the 7 Up advertising campaign lasted only a short while in the early 1970s, the company revived the campaign in the early 1980s after Holder achieved a spike in popularity in the 1982 movie version of the musical Annie, in which he played the role of Punjab. He was a prolific painter, ardent art collector, and performer who had also authored books and composed music. As a choreographer, he created dance pieces for many companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and The Dance Theatre of Harlem. Holder was married to dancer Carmen De Lavallade, whom he met when both were in the cast of Truman Capote's House of Flowers. .

Movies for Geoffrey Holder...

The Magistical
Title: The Magistical
Character: Narrator
Released: October 19, 2008
Type: Movie
Once upon a time a guardian was chosen to watch over all living things. She was called The Magistical. Hoping to preserve all precious life, The Magistical created a spell. This spell granted the last of every type of creature, immortality. However, to one very evil Draken, the spell would carry a very different meaning than intended. By killing all other Drakens, she would become the last. Without fear of death, such a beast could rule the world. Now only one baby cub stands between her and her evil ambitions. And between them stands a small, but determined obstacle, named Foible.
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Title: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: July 13, 2005
Type: Movie
A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world's most unusual candy maker.
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Carmen & Geoffrey
Title: Carmen & Geoffrey
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 2005
Type: Movie
This intimate documentary follows careers of two remarkable personalities: Carmen de Lavallade, a dynamic dancer and choreographer from California who moved to New York with Alvin Ailey and began a legacy of modern dance in America, and her husband Geoffrey Holder, a Trinidad-born choreographer, set and costume designer, painter and man about town with productions such as The Wiz. Features interviews and performance footage of friends and colleagues: dancers Judith Jamison, Gus Solomons, Jr., Dudley Williams, Ulysses Dove and Alvin Ailey.
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Bear in the Big Blue House LIVE! - Surprise Party
Title: Bear in the Big Blue House LIVE! - Surprise Party
Character: Ray
Released: June 12, 2002
Type: Movie
It's Tutter's birthday and viewers are invited to join Bear and the gang in the Big Blue House as they work together to plan a surprise party for Tutter. This stage production features many of the voices from the show and many of its songs as well.
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Title: Cyberchase
Character: Master Pi
Released: January 21, 2002
Type: TV
Cyberchase is an American/Canadian television series for children ages 7-13. The series takes place in Cyberspace, a virtual world, and chronicles the adventures of three children, Jackie, Inez, and Matt, as they use math and problem solving skills to save Cyberspace and its leader, Motherboard, from The Hacker, the villain. Cyberchase has received generally positive reviews and won numerous awards. Thirteen/WNET New York and Nelvana produced the first five seasons, while Thirteen, in association with Title Entertainment, Inc. and WNET.ORG, produced seasons six through eight. The show airs on Public Broadcasting Service and PBS Kids GO! in the United States. All episodes have been released free on the Cyberchase Website. Since July 2010, Cyberchase has been put on hiatus, but was announced that starting in November, Cyberchase will be revived and start airing new episodes with its 9th season.
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Chance or Coincidence
Title: Chance or Coincidence
Character: Gerry
Released: November 18, 1998
Type: Movie
Once a successful dancer, Miriam has abandoned her career to bring up her son, Serge, after her boyfriend walked out of her.
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Title: Bear in the Big Blue House
Released: October 20, 1997
Type: TV
The series provides children with valuable tools for growth in key areas of music, social skill development, and cognitive learning through integrated programs combining music, movement, and exploration. With Bear and all his friends, learn about cooperation, teamwork and more.
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Going, Going, Almost Gone! Animals in Danger
Title: Going, Going, Almost Gone! Animals in Danger
Released: April 1, 1995
Type: Movie
An urgent plea to protect creatures from man's insensitivity and greed. The program offers clear explanations of why the survival of sea turtles, humpbacked whales, tiger, bears and other threatened animals is essential to the balance of nature.
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Boomerang
Title: Boomerang
Character: Nelson
Released: June 30, 1992
Type: Movie
Marcus is a successful advertising executive who woos and beds women almost at will. After a company merger he finds that his new boss, the ravishing Jacqueline, is treating him in exactly the same way. Completely traumatised by this, his work goes badly downhill.
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Tropical Rainforest
Title: Tropical Rainforest
Character: Narrator
Released: February 1, 1992
Type: Movie
The story of the evolution of tropical rain forests, their recent and rapid destruction, and the intense efforts of scientists to understand them even as they disappear. This film gives viewers a better appreciation of the importance of tropical rain forests on a global scale.
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Night of 100 Stars III
Title: Night of 100 Stars III
Character: Self
Released: May 21, 1990
Type: Movie
A celebrity benefit for The Actors' Fund of America, featuring music, songs, dance and comedy.
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Ghost of a Chance
Title: Ghost of a Chance
Character: Johnson
Released: May 12, 1987
Type: Movie
A television movie about a veteran policeman who accidentally kills a musician. The ghost of the musician returns to persuade the cop to steer the musician's grandson away from drug peddlers and into a life of music.
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Christmas
Title: Christmas
Character: Ghost of Christmas Future
Released: December 1, 1986
Type: Movie
An adaptation of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol " with Robert Guillaume as John Grin, the Scrooge character. His son Kevin has a role as the Bob Cratchit character, with Geoffrey Holder and Ted Lange as two of the Ghosts.
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Night of 100 Stars II
Title: Night of 100 Stars II
Character: Self
Released: March 10, 1985
Type: Movie
This special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited from a seven-hour live entertainment marathon that was taped February 17, 1985, at New York's Radio City Music Hall, this sequel to the 1982 "Night of 100 Stars" special features 288 celebrities.
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Alice in Wonderland
Title: Alice in Wonderland
Character: Cheshire Cat
Released: October 3, 1983
Type: Movie
From the elaborate Broadway revival of the 1932 Eva Le Gallienne/Florida Friebus production comes a whimsical retelling of the Lewis Carroll classic.
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All By Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story
Title: All By Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story
Character: Self
Released: September 10, 1982
Type: Movie
Documentary profile of singer-actress Eartha Kitt.
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Annie
Title: Annie
Character: Punjab
Released: May 21, 1982
Type: Movie
An orphan in a facility run by the mean Miss Hannigan, Annie believes that her parents left her there by mistake. When a rich man named Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks decides to let an orphan live at his home to promote his image, Annie is selected. While Annie gets accustomed to living in Warbucks' mansion, she still longs to meet her parents. So Warbucks announces a search for them and a reward, which brings out many frauds.
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Lights, Camera, Annie!
Title: Lights, Camera, Annie!
Character: Self / Punjab
Released: March 7, 1982
Type: Movie
An in-depth look into the making of the film Annie (1982). It covers the adaptation changes from the original Broadway musical, the hiring of director John Huston, the nationwide search to cast the title role, the production process, and the conception of several musical numbers, including a different version of the song "Easy Street" than the one that ended up in the film.
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The Gold Bug
Title: The Gold Bug
Character: Jupiter
Released: February 2, 1980
Type: Movie
Shortly after the Civil War, while exploring the long deserted and reputedly haunted Sullivan's Island off Charleston S.C., a boy encounters two obsessed eccentrics living there. These men chase him away and warn him never to return or to tell anyone about them. Soon, however, they locate him and summon him back, because he has unknowingly given them a clue vital to their quest and they need his help to unravel the rest of the mystery. If he can do so, they will find buried pirate treasure and all become rich. But in joining the search, he falls under the same obsession and curse -- an ominous fate suggested by the unearthly electronic music which contributes to the film's atmosphere.
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Swashbuckler
Title: Swashbuckler
Character: Cudjo
Released: July 29, 1976
Type: Movie
A pirate and a hot-tempered noblewoman join forces to protect Jamaica from a tyrant.
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The Noah
Title: The Noah
Character: Friday
Released: January 1, 1975
Type: Movie
Noah, the sole remaining survivor on our planet after a nuclear holocaust, finds himself unable to to accept his unique predicament. To cope with his loneliness, he creates an imaginary companion, then a companion for his companion and finally an entire civilization - a world of illusion in which there is no reality but Noah, no rules but those of the extinct world of his memory - our world.
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Goggles!
Title: Goggles!
Character: (voice)
Released: June 21, 1974
Type: Movie
Two boys discover a pair of lensless motorcycle goggles, and have to outsmart some older boys before they can have fun with their new treasure.
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Live and Let Die
Title: Live and Let Die
Character: Baron Samedi
Released: June 27, 1973
Type: Movie
James Bond must investigate a mysterious murder case of a British agent in New Orleans. Soon he finds himself up against a gangster boss named Mr. Big.
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Bond 1973: The Lost Documentary
Title: Bond 1973: The Lost Documentary
Character: Self
Released: June 21, 1973
Type: Movie
Original 1973 short promotional documentary on the making of the 8th James Bond movie Live and Let Die (1973).
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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask
Title: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask
Character: Sorcerer
Released: August 6, 1972
Type: Movie
A collection of seven vignettes, which each address a question concerning human sexuality. From aphrodisiacs to sexual perversion to the mystery of the male orgasm, characters like a court jester, a doctor, a queen and a journalist adventure through lab experiments and game shows, all seeking answers to common questions that many would never ask.
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Title: Great Performances
Character: Cheshire Cat
Released: January 28, 1971
Type: TV
The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.
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Krakatoa, East of Java
Title: Krakatoa, East of Java
Character: Sailor
Released: December 26, 1968
Type: Movie
A team of maritime salvage workers are about to embark on a recovery dive. However the 1883 Krakatoa Volcano eruption provides more pressing problems.
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Doctor Dolittle
Title: Doctor Dolittle
Character: William Shakespeare X
Released: December 5, 1967
Type: Movie
A veterinarian who can communicate with animals travels abroad to search for a giant sea snail.
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Androcles and the Lion
Title: Androcles and the Lion
Character: Lion
Released: November 15, 1967
Type: Movie
The story of Androcles, the simple-hearted Christian tailor whose friendship with a lion saves himself and his friends from martyrdom in the Roman Colosseum.
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Cole Porter's Aladdin
Title: Cole Porter's Aladdin
Character: Genie
Released: February 21, 1958
Type: Movie
Cole Porter's version of the story of Aladdin--his only musical written especially for television.
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Carib Gold
Title: Carib Gold
Character: Voo Doo Dancer
Released: September 30, 1957
Type: Movie
The hard-working but struggling crew of a shrimp boat discover a sunken treasure. Trouble ensues in this dramatic black-cast production.
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Title: DuPont Show of the Month
Character: Genie
Released: September 29, 1957
Type: TV
DuPont Show of the Month is an acclaimed 90-minute television anthology series that aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. The DuPont Company also sponsored a weekly half-hour anthology drama series hosted by June Allyson, The DuPont Show with June Allyson. During the Golden Age of Television, DuPont Show of the Month was one of numerous anthology series telecast between 1949 and 1962. Superficially, it resembled Playhouse 90 and other anthologies, but DuPont Show of the Month focused less on contemporary dramas and more on adaptations of literary classics, including Oliver Twist, The Prince and the Pauper, Billy Budd, The Prisoner of Zenda, A Tale of Two Cities and The Count of Monte Cristo.