| Ron Holgate | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ronald Holgate May 26, 1937 Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, Singer |
| Years active | 1960s–2000s |
| Spouse | Dorothy Collins (m. 1966-1977; divorced) Anny DeGange (m. 1989-present) |
| Awards | Tony Award winner for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (1776) |
Ronald "Ron" Holgate (born May 26, 1937, Aberdeen, South Dakota) is a American actor and opera singer. He is known for winning the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor as Richard Henry Lee in the original Broadway production of 1776.
Contents |
The son of a school superintendent and a drama teacher, raised in South Dakota, 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 National Council Auditions, finishing after Teresa Stratas; he went on to tour with Goldovsky's New England Opera Theater.[1]
By the early 1960s, however, Holgate had gone back to theater, only resuming a regular opera career in the 1970s. Roles like the narcissistic Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (which he originated in the show's Broadway premiere) 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 theatre, 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 had an active career as a concert singer, which included performances at Carnegie Hall and a Broadway revue with his first wife, Dorothy Collins (1926–1994; who was a decade his elder). He and Collins were married from 1966 to 1977. He was featured in the first concert devoted to Stephen Sondheim's work.
Holgate's most famous role is as 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.[3] Critic Walter Kerr commented that "there is simply no stopping Mr. Holgate as he explodes with the sheer happiness of having come to exist."[4] (Holgate and fellow 1776 performer William Daniels were nominated in the same, supporting category. Daniels turned down the nomination, because he felt that his role as John Adams was clearly the lead.[5]) Holgate is also well remembered for creating the role of the vain Opera star Tito Morelli n Lend Me a Tenor .
Holgate has few film and television credits. 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[6] and Syracuse Opera.[7] With actor Jack Kyrieleison, Holgate co-authored the Civil War musical, Reunion: A Music Epic in Miniature.[8]
Holgate was married to singer Dorothy Collins from 1966 to 1977, to Anny DeGange from 1989 to the present, and has three daughters, Melissa, Chloe, and Lily.
|
||||||||