FORMER Cowes and Ventnor resident — actor, lyricist and sculptor, Lawrence Holofcener, died on March 4, aged 91.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 23, 1926, he served in the United States Air Force towards the end of the Second World War and during the American occupation of Japan.
Mr Holofcener began his career in the 1950s as a lyricist in collaboration with Jerry Bock, who would achieve fame with Fiddler on the Roof, before he collaborated with George Weiss to write the score for Mr Wonderful, the 1956 Broadway show which starred Sammy Davis Jr and ran for 383 performances.
On stage, he played Cornelius in the 1964 Broadway production of Hello Dolly! opposite Carol Channing and Ginger Rogers.
He also wrote several books, which include A Practical Dictionary of Rhymes (1960), for lyricists, and a dictionary of Britishisms (1981).
But he became better known in his later years as the self-taught sculptor, responsible for Allies, a life-size public work that featured a bronze Winston Churchill chatting with Franklin D. Roosevelt on a park bench.
The work became a popular tourist attraction after it was unveiled in Bond Street, London, by Princess Margaret in 1995 to commemorate 50 years of peace since the end of the war.
He specialised in traditional bronze portrait sculpture.
His British commissions included Faces of Olivier, a plaque showing Sir Laurence in 28 of his most famous roles, which was unveiled by the actor in 1985, as well as a statue of Queen Victoria for the IW Museum and statues of Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon and others of John Lennon and Martin Luther King.
Mr Holofcener is survived by his two daughters from his first wife, and his second wife, Julia (nee Cornforth), who he married in 1970.

Allies by Lawrence Holofcener

Allies, the sculpture created by Lawrence Holocener. By Anthony O'Neil, CC BY-SA 2.0