Ram John Holder

Ram John Holder is a British actor of Guyanese origin (born in Guyana in 1934). He began his performing career as a folk singer in New York. In 1962 he came to London and worked with Pearl Connor's Negro Theatre Workshop initially as a musician and later as an actor. His theatre career saw him perform on the major stages in London such as the Royal National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and Bristol Old Vic.

John Boorman cast him as the Negro preacher in the 1969 comedy feature film, "Leo the Last", about race relations that was set in a Notting Hill slum in West London. He also sang the songs in the film. He again played a preacher in the Horace Ové directed film "Pressure" in 1975, made a cameo performance in "My Beautiful Laundrette" (d. Stephen Frears, 1985) as a poet and appeared in the Sankofa Film and Video's debut feature "The Passion of Remembrance" in 1986. [ [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/536168/credits.html British Film Institute film & TV credits] (retrieved 22 September 2006)]

Holder played the role of Porkpie in hit comedy series "Desmond's" which was written by Trix Worrell and broadcast on Channel 4 from 1989 until 1994. He later had his own spin-off series "Porkpie" when Desmond's came to an end.

Holder has appeared in several television productions and joined the cast of "EastEnders" in late September 2006, playing Cedric Lucas. His last stage performance to date was as Slow Drag in the 2006 revival of August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester

Holder is a talented musician [ [http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:w8FPFMrdBxYJ:www.pfd.co.uk/clients/holderrj/a-act.html+ram+john+holder&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us&client=safari PFD Group talent agency] cached page (retrieved December 2 2007] who has recorded a number of albums; "Black London Blues" (1969), "Bootleg Blues" (1971), "You Simply Are..." (1975) [ [http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/ram_john_holder Ram John Holder Discography] (retrieved 12 September 2006)] and "Ram Blues & Soul" [ [http://www.algoriddim.com/_art/release.php?m_rel_id=T2454 Album tracklisting] ] . He has also released various singles and contributed to soundtracks for film and television, including three songs for the film adaptation of "Take a Girl Like You". [ [http://blaxploitation.com/s_505.html Album tracklisting] ]

He has also appeared in "Little Britain" and as "Flying Freddy Mersa" in episodes of BBC Children's Series "The Story of Tracy Beaker". In May 2008 Holder appeared in an episode of the BBC drama "The Invisibles".

ources

ee also

* Desmond's
* Down to Earth (UK TV series)
* List of Black Britons
* List of characters from EastEnders
* Porkpie (TV series)

External links

* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/536168/index.html British Film Institute] Screenonline biography
* [http://www.landofsixpeoples.com/gynewsjs.htm Guyanese in the United Kingdom (2001)]
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* [http://www.talawa.com/article.php3?id_article=187 Talawa Theatre Company]
* [http://www.tv.com/ram-john-holder/person/125172/summary.html TV.com database record]