This section of FSWL is kind of personal as it features photos and stories from meeting and talking to the people who have contributed to the success of the James Bond 007 phenomenon. In most cases very friendly and down-to-earth people. Currently 263 names listed.
The list consist of actors, actresses, assistant directors, camera operators, cinematographers, composers, costume designers, directors, editors, executive producers, location managers, lyrics writers, marketing executives, music artists, production assistants, production controllers, production designers, production managers, production secretaries, publicists, script supervisors, screenwriters, special effects wizards, stunt coordinators and several stuntmen.
The section also includes meetings with official James Bond authors.
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| GEOFFREY HOLDER |
| Baron Samedi in LIVE AND LET DIE 1973 |
I have not yet met Geoffrey Holder in person but I include him in this section as I got an inscribed autograph from him, thanks to a friend of mine who met him at the collector show Collectormania in Manchester in November 2006.
About Geoffrey Holder:
Born 1930 in Port of Spain, Trinidad of African descent, Holder is a Tony-award winning stage director and costume designer. He is known for his height (6'6"), heavily-accented deep basso voice and "hearty laugh."
One of four children, Holder attended The Tranquillity School and secondary school at Queens Royal College in Port-of-Spain. At age seven, he began dancing in his brother's company.
In 1952, the choreographer Agnes de Mille saw Holder dance on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. She invited him to New York; he would 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 1955-1956.
In 1955, Holder married dancer Carmen De Lavallade, whom he met when both were in the cast of 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 and Geoffrey. They live in New York City and have one son, Leo Anthony Lamont. Holder's brother was the London-based artist Boscoe Holder.
Holder began his movie career in the 1962 British film All Night Long, a modern remake of Shakespeare’s Othello. He followed that with Doctor Doolittle (1967) as Willie Shakespeare. In the 1972, he was cast as the Sorcerer in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask. The following year he was a henchman - Baron Samedi - in the Bond movie Live and Let Die (1973) on which he also contributed to the film's choreography. In addition to his movie appearances, Holder became a spokesman for the 1970s 7 Up soft drink "uncola" advertising campaign.
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 until it was revived in 1984.
As a choreographer, Holder has 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.
In the 1982 movie version of the musical Annie, Holder played the role of Punjab. He was also the voice of Ray in Bear in the Big Blue House (1997) and also provided narration for Tim Burton's version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). He 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.
He is also a prolific painter, ardent art collector, book author and music composer. As a painter, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship. A book of his photography, Adam, was published by Viking in 1986.
Text written and published by Anders Frejdh in December, 2006. |
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