Ron Holgate
Encyclopedia
Ronald "Ron" Holgate 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
.
. 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
.
(which he originated in the show's Broadway premiere) led to him developing a reputation for what Frank Rich
called "vain ladies' men."
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. Critic Walter Kerr
commented that "there is simply no stopping Mr. Holgate as he explodes with the sheer happiness of having come to exist." (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.)
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
and Syracuse Opera. With actor Jack Kyrieleison, Holgate co-authored the Civil War
musical, Reunion: A Music Epic in Miniature.
from 1966 to 1977, to Anny DeGange from 1989 to the present, and has three daughters, Melissa, Chloe, and Lily.
Off-Broadway
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and opera singer. He is known for winning the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Supporting Actor as Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and his famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States...
in the original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production of 1776
1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...
.
Early life
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 UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. While there, however, he was discovered by Boris Goldovsky
Boris Goldovsky
Boris Goldovsky was a Russian conductor and broadcast commentator, active in the United States. He has been called an important "popularizer" of opera in America...
, and went on to study opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
at both Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
and the New England Conservatory. In 1959, Holgate, a bass-baritone, won second prize in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is an annual singing competition sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera. Established in 1954, its purpose is to discover, assist, promote, and develop young opera singers. The competition is held in four stages: Districts, Regional, Semi-Final, and...
, finishing after Teresa Stratas
Teresa Stratas
Teresa Stratas, OC , is a retired Canadian operatic soprano. She is especially well-known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's Lulu.-Early life and career:...
; he went on to tour with Goldovsky's New England Opera Theater
New England Opera Theater
The New England Opera Theatre was an American opera company that was active from 1945 to 1985. Founded by Boris Goldovsky in January 1945, the company was originally based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was initially established under the sponsorship of the New England Conservatory as a training...
.
Career
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 ForumA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....
(which he originated in the show's Broadway premiere) led to him developing a reputation for what Frank Rich
Frank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
called "vain ladies' men."
Until 2005, he worked regularly on and Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
, in regional theatre, and in over a dozen national and international tours. As an opera singer, Holgate played leading roles in La Boheme
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, and the world premiere of Philip Marshall
Philip Marshall
Philip Marshall was an English cathedral organist, who served in Lincoln Cathedral and Ripon Cathedral-Career:Organist of:*St Botolph's Church, Boston *Ripon Cathedral *Lincoln Cathedral -References:...
, among many others. He had an active career as a concert singer, which included performances at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and a Broadway revue with his first wife, Dorothy Collins
Dorothy Collins
Dorothy Collins was a Canadian/American singer, actress, and recording artist. She was born Marjorie Chandler in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and adopted her stage name in her mid-teens.-Radio and TV:...
(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
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's work.
Holgate's most famous role is as Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and his famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States...
in 1776
1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...
. 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
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
as Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Critic Walter Kerr
Walter Kerr
For the RN admiral see Lord Walter KerrWalter Francis Kerr was an American writer and Broadway theater critic. He also was the writer, lyricist, and/or director of several Broadway plays and musicals.-Biography:...
commented that "there is simply no stopping Mr. Holgate as he explodes with the sheer happiness of having come to exist." (Holgate and fellow 1776 performer William Daniels
William Daniels
William David Daniels is an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild . He is known for his performance as Dustin Hoffman's father in The Graduate , as John Adams in 1776, as Carter Nash in Captain Nice, as Mr. George Feeny in ABC's Boy Meets World, as the voice of KITT in...
were nominated in the same, supporting category. Daniels turned down the nomination, because he felt that his role as John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
was clearly the lead.)
Holgate has few film and television credits. He played Lee again in the film version
1776 (film)
1776 is a 1972 American musical film directed by Peter H. Hunt. The screenplay by Peter Stone was based on the 1969 stage musical of the same name. Portions of the dialogue and some of the song lyrics were taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants of the Second...
of 1776, and was featured in the straight-to-video Men of Means. He has acted occasionally in daytime soap operas, including Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
, Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
, and One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
.
Now primarily directing instead of performing, Holgate has recently been working with the New York State Theatre Institute
New York State Theatre Institute
-History:In 1974, the New York State Legislature enacted legislation creating the Empire State Youth Theatre Institute . In 1982, through a collaboration with "the Egg" it became known as the Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts...
and Syracuse Opera. With actor Jack Kyrieleison, Holgate co-authored the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
musical, Reunion: A Music Epic in Miniature.
Personal life
Holgate was married to singer Dorothy CollinsDorothy Collins
Dorothy Collins was a Canadian/American singer, actress, and recording artist. She was born Marjorie Chandler in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and adopted her stage name in her mid-teens.-Radio and TV:...
from 1966 to 1977, to Anny DeGange from 1989 to the present, and has three daughters, Melissa, Chloe, and Lily.
Stage productions
Broadway- Milk and HoneyMilk and Honey (musical)Milk and Honey is a musical with a book by Don Appell and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The story centers on a busload of lonely American widows hoping to catch husbands while touring Israel and is set against the background of the country's fight for recognition as an independent nation...
: chorus - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the ForumA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the ForumA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....
: Miles Gloriosus - Sweet CharitySweet CharitySweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...
: Vittorio Vidal (one-week vacation replacement for James LuisiJames LuisiJames A. Luisi was an American professional basketball player and actor. Luisi is perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Doug Chapman during Seasons 3 through 6 of the television series The Rockford Files.-Career:...
) - 17761776 (musical)1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...
: Richard Henry Lee - Saturday Sunday Monday: Luigi Ianniello
- The Grand TourThe Grand Tour (musical)The Grand Tour is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.Based on S. N. Behrman's play Jacobowsky and the Colonel, the story concerns an unlikely pair. S.L. Jacobowsky, a Polish-Jewish intellectual, has purchased a car he cannot drive....
: Colonel Tadeusz Boleslav Stjerbinsky - Musical Chairs: Joe Preston
- 42nd Street42nd Street (musical)42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit...
: Julian Marsh (replacement) - Lend Me a TenorLend Me a TenorLend Me a Tenor is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End and Broadway . Although it received seven Tony Award nominations, it won only one, for Best Actor. A Broadway revival opened in 2010. Lend Me a Tenor has been translated into sixteen languages and produced in...
: Tito Merelli (also West EndWest End theatreWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production) - Guys and Dolls: Big Jule (replacement)
- Annie Get Your GunAnnie Get Your Gun (musical)Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
: "Buffalo Bill" - Kiss Me, KateKiss Me, KateKiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
: 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
- Heroes
Awards and nominations
- 1959 Frederick K. Weyerhauser Scholarship, Metropolitan Opera Auditions
- 1974 New Jersey Drama Critic's Circle Award: A Little Night MusicA Little Night MusicA Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...
- 1969 Tony Award: winner, 1776: Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
- 1979 Tony Award: nominee, The Grand Tour
- 1992 Detroit Drama Critic's Circle Award: Man of La ManchaMan of La ManchaMan of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...
- 2005 Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award: UrinetownUrinetownUrinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics...
Further reading
- "Holgate, Ron". The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television (ed. Thomas S. Hischak. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008; ISBN 0195335333