baron-samedi-james-bondGeoffrey Holder, who memorably played Baron Samedi opposite Roger Moore in Live and Let Die, has died aged 84.

Holder was an accomplished dancer and stage director, winning Tony Awards for his costume designs and direction of the Wizard of Oz update The Wiz in 1975. As well as appearing in the Bond film, he was in Doctor Doolittle and Woody Allen’s Everything You Wanted to Know about Sex and Annie Hall.

Unusually for a Bond villain, Samedi wasn’t killed off – he is seen at the very end of the film. This was in part to appease local voodoo followers.

In 2010 Holder explained that “I create for that innocent little boy in the balcony who has come to the theater for the first time. He wants to see magic, so I want to give him magic. He sees things that his father couldn’t see.”

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