He was variously described in his younger days as actor, acrobat and comedian and eventually adopted the stage name of Clarance.
Holt made his stage debut in 1842 as Timothy in William Thomas Moncrieff's farce All at Coventry at the Victoria Theatre, London.
From Geelong he went to Hobart Town and Launceston, Tasmania and in September 1855 opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Sydney.
[4] In 1862 as joint lessee of the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, he engaged Brooke, Anna Bishop, Joseph Jefferson and others.
He also created a successful one man touring show – A Night with Shakespeare and Dickens and in 1870 wrote, produced and starred in an adaptation of Les Misérables – The Barricade.