The Trinidadian actor who was invited in 1952 at New York by choreographer Agnes de Mille was a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York from 1955-56. He began his movie career in the 1962 British film All Night Long. He was castimg in many other films, such: Doctor Dolittle, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, in the Bond movie Live and Let Die , The Noah, Hasards ou coïncidences , Annie, Boomerang, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bear in the Big Blue House and others.
In 1975 Holder won two Tony Awards for direction and costume design of the all-black musical version of The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz. created dance pieces for many companies including the Dance Theatre of Harlem. On TV, Holder played roles on TV’s Tarzan, voiced the leader on the PBS Kids animated show Cyberchase and pitched 7-Up as “the un-cola” in a commercial. Holder even was a prolific painter, art collector, book author and music composer. He co-authored and illustrated a collection of Caribbean folklore, Black Gods, Green Islands.
