Geoffrey Holder, Tony winning director, James Bond villain and 7UP pitchman, dies at 84

By Mark Kennedy

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK _ A Tony Award-winning director, actor, painter and choreographer who during an eclectic show business career led the groundbreaking show “The Wiz” to Broadway, pitched 7UP on TV and played a scary villain in the James Bond film “Live and Let Die,” has died. Geoffrey Holder was 84.

Producer and family friend Anna Glass says Holder died Sunday of complications from pneumonia at Mount Sinai St. Luke’ s Hospital in New York.

The 6-foot-6, Trinidad-born Holder won Tonys in 1975 for directing and designing the costumes for an all-black retelling of “The Wizard of Oz.” In 1978, he directed and choreographed the Broadway musical “Timbuktu!” and earned another Tony nomination for best costume.

He is survived by his wife, the dancer Carmen de Lavallade, and their son, Leo.

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