Ron Holgate

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Ron Holgate

Born May 26, 1937 (1937-05-26) (age 71)
Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S.
Other names Ronald Holgate
Occupation Singer, Actor
Spouse Dorothy Collins (1966-1977)
Anny DeGange (1989- )
Children Three daughters

Ron Holgate (also known as Ronald Holgate) is an American actor and opera singer, best known as Richard Henry Lee in the original Broadway production of 1776.

Contents

[edit] Early life

The son of a school superintendent and a drama teacher, Holgate originally intended to become a classical actor and studied drama with Alvina Krause at Northwestern University. While there, however, he was discovered by Boris Goldovsky, and went on to study opera at both Tanglewood and the New England Conservatory. In 1959, Holgate, a bass-baritone, won second prize in the Metropolitan Opera auditions, finishing after Teresa Stratas; he went on to tour with Goldovsky's New England Opera Theater.[1]

[edit] Career

By the early 1960s, however, Holgate had gone back to theater, only resuming a regular opera career in the 1970s. Roles like Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum led to him developing a reputation for what Frank Rich called "vain ladies' men."[2] Until 2005, he worked regularly on and off-Broadway, in regional theater, and in over a dozen national and international tours. As an opera singer, Holgate played leading roles in La Boheme, Don Giovanni, and the world premiere of Philip Marshall, among many others; he also had an active career as a concert singer, which included performances at Carnegie Hall and a Broadway revue with his first wife, Dorothy Collins. He was featured in the first concert devoted to Stephen Sondheim's work.

Holgate's most famous role is Richard Henry Lee in 1776. Although he had only one song, "The Lees of Old Virginia," and a scant few lines of additional dialogue, he earned that season's Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Walter Kerr commented that "there is simply no stopping Mr. Holgate as he explodes with the sheer happiness of having come to exist."[3] (Notoriously, he and 1776 leading man William Daniels were nominated in the same category; Daniels turned down the nomination.)

First and foremost a stage actor, Holgate rarely appears on film or television. He played Lee again in the film version of 1776 and was featured in the straight-to-video Men of Means. He has acted occasionally in daytime soap operas, including Another World, Guiding Light, and One Life to Live.

Now primarily directing instead of performing, Holgate has recently been working with the New York State Theatre Institute and Syracuse Opera. He co-authored the Civil War musical Reunion: A Music Epic in Miniature with actor Jack Kyrieleison.

[edit] Selected theater credits: Broadway

[edit] Selected theater credits: Off-Broadway

  • Hobo: Jonah
  • Hooray! It's a Glorious Day...and all that: Carl Strong
  • Blue Plate Special: Larry Finney
  • The Sounds of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Part II
  • Milk and Honey: Phil Arkin

[edit] Awards and nominations

  • Tony Award: winner, 1776 (1969); nominee, The Grand Tour (1979)
  • Frederick K. Weyerhauser Scholarship, Metropolitan Opera Auditions (1959)
  • New Jersey Drama Critic's Circle Award: A Little Night Music (1974)
  • Detroit Drama Critic's Circle Award: Man of La Mancha (1992)
  • Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award: Urinetown (2005)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kevin Kelly, "'Flukey Kind of Thing...'" Boston Globe 16 Dec. 1990: B21; accessed 2007-12-24.
  2. ^ Frank Rich, "When One Tenor Is Much Like Another," New York Times 3 March 1989: C3; accessed 2007-12-24.
  3. ^ Walter Kerr, "'1776,' And All's Well," New York Times 23 March 1969: D1+; accessed 2007-12-24.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Hiram Sherman
for How Now, Dow Jones		 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical
1969
for 1776		 Succeeded by
Rene Auberjonois
for Coco