Hi, Folks -

(heh) Bless him, Wikipedia and the networks report the passing of Geoffrey Holder, a man of many talents and indelibly written into our shared memories and culture for a variety of reasons. :)

Wikipedia says:

Geoffrey Lamont Holder (1 August 1930 – 5 October 2014) was a Trinidadian actor, choreographer, director, dancer, painter, costume designer, singer and voice-over artist.

[snip]

Geoffrey Holder died in Manhattan from complications from pneumonia on 5 October 2014. He was survived by his wife, Carmen De Lavallade, and their son, Léo.

Holder played the Bond villain, Baron Samedi, in "Live and Let Die". In 1975 Holder won two Tony Awards for direction and costume design of "The Wiz".

Holder was a prolific painter (patrons of his art included Lena Horne and William F. Buckley, Jr.),[19] ardent art collector, book author and music composer. As a painter, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship[20] in fine arts in 1956.[21] A book of his photography, Adam, was published by Viking Press in 1986.

The man was apparently a veritable fount of creativity. :)

Perhaps his greatest, or at least earliest, introduction to a great many of us was by way of his commercials for 7-Up in the '70s and '80s. Below, from the days when commercials were often a full minute in length, one of the first "UnCola" commercials, featuring Holder. I recall folks at the time, doing their best to give forth with Holder's laugh. :)

Thanks to YouTuber videoblast. Farewell, Mr. Holder, and peace and blessings to those who knew and loved you; thanks for all that you provided, which, one suspects, was much, much more than most of us knew. :)

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http://youtu.be/AXmc7DG4uu8

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--hobie