Ron Holgate

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Ronald Holgate (born May 26, 1937, in Aberdeen, South Dakota) is an American actor and opera singer, best known as Richard Henry Lee in the original Broadway production of 1776.

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 1958, Holgate, a bass-baritone, won second prize in the Metropolitan Opera auditions; he went on to tour with Goldovsky's New England Opera Theater.

By the early 1960s, however, Holgate had gone back to theater. He made his Broadway debut as Tommy Rall's understudy in Milk and Honey (1961), then originated the role of Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1963) and briefly replaced James Luisi as Vittorio in Sweet Charity (with which he went on to tour). In 1969, Holgate won his signature role 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. (Notoriously, he and 1776 leading man William Daniels were nominated in the same category; Daniels turned down the nomination.)

Holgate's other Broadway credits include Saturday Sunday Monday, The Grand Tour (Tony Award nomination), Musical Chairs, Lend Me a Tenor (also West End and US national tour), 42nd Street, Guys and Dolls, and Annie Get Your Gun. He last appeared on Broadway in the 1999 revival of Kiss Me Kate. Holgate starred in over a dozen national tours, including an award-winning turn in Urinetown, and performed off-Broadway and at regional theatres across the United States. During the 1970s, he resuscitated his career as an opera singer, and 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. Holgate was featured in the first concert devoted to Stephen Sondheim's work.

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.

Holgate has been married twice: to the late jazz singer Dorothy Collins, with whom he had one daughter, and to actress-singer Anny DeGange, with whom he has two daughters. Of late, he has been working with the New York State Theatre Institute.