Ron Holgate

Infobox actor
name = Ron Holgate

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imagesize = 180px
caption =
birthname = Ronald Holgate
birthdate = Birth date and age|1937|5|26
birthplace = Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA
occupation = Singer, actor
spouse = Dorothy Collins (1966-1977)
Anny DeGange (1989-present)
yearsactive =
website =
academyawards =
tonyawards = Best Featured Actor in a Musical

awards =

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

Biography

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. [Kevin Kelly, "'Flukey Kind of Thing...'" "Boston Globe" 16 Dec. 1990: B21; accessed 2007-12-24.]

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." [Frank Rich, "When One Tenor Is Much Like Another," "New York Times" 3 March 1989: C3; accessed 2007-12-24.] 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." [Walter Kerr, "'1776,' And All's Well," "New York Times" 23 March 1969: D1+; accessed 2007-12-24.] (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 "" with actor Jack Kyrieleison.

Stage productions

;Broadway
* "Milk and Honey": chorus
* "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum": Miles Gloriosus
* "Sweet Charity": Vittorio Vidal (one-week vacation replacement for James Luisi)
* "1776": Richard Henry Lee
* "Saturday Sunday Monday": Luigi Ianniello
* "The Grand Tour": Colonel Tadeusz Boleslav Stjerbinsky
* "Musical Chairs": Joe Preston
* "42nd Street": Julian Marsh (replacement)
* "Lend Me a Tenor": Tito Merelli (also West End production)
* "Guys and Dolls": Big Jule (replacement)
* "Annie Get Your Gun": Col. Wm. F. Cody
* "Kiss Me, Kate": Harrison Howell;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

Awards and nominations

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

References

External links

*
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* [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/106995.html Interview at Playbill.com]
* [http://www.hudsonstage.com/index.php?s=gal Holgate in "Where's Annie?"]
* [http://www.aberdeen.k12.sd.us/Foundation/ron.holgate.htm Aberdeen Central High School Hall of Fame]