Hal Holbrook, Venerated Actor Who Embodied Mark Twain, Dead at 95

Hal Holbrook, the actor who brought a literary icon to life with his long-running one-man show Mark Twain Tonight!, has died. He was 95 years old. 

Holbrook died in his home in Beverly Hills, and his death was confirmed by his assistant, Joyce Cohen, the New York Times reports. 

Many historical roles found their way to Holbrook over the course of his career. He played Deep Throat in the 1976 drama All the President’s Men. He played Abraham Lincoln in the miniseries Lincoln, and, decades later, would play influential presidential advisor Preston Blair in another Lincoln, Steven Spielberg’s take on the 16th president. But it was Holbrook’s turn as Twain in his one-man show, devised when he was in his twenties and based on Twain’s own writing, that earned him global acclaim. 

In the play, which debuted in 1954, Holbrook donned a white suit and mused as Twain, plumbing the writer’s archives and rewriting the show’s material over the years to address contemporary issues. “The show has definitely become more topical over the years,”’ he said in a 2001 interview. ”I read the newspapers and I get upset or angry or hysterical about some hypocrisy, cruelty, lying or idiocy, and so I go back to my notes.”

Holbrook won a Tony for best performance by a lead actor in 1967 for his performance. He was also nominated for a best actor Emmy that same year for the TV broadcast of the play. Holbrook performed in the show for 63 years, retiring it in 2017. 

“The truth is that he’s been wonderful company,” the actor said of Twain in an interview. “It would be an understatement to say I like him. He never ceases to amaze me. Even after all these years, I’m still stunned by his insight into the human character. So much of what he had to say more than 100 years ago is right on the money for today.”

Holbrook made celebrated turns in shows like Designing Women, where he met and married his third wife, actress Dixie Carter; they were together until her death in 2010. He also had memorable roles in films like Into the Wild, which earned him his first Oscar nomination in 2008. At 82 years old, Holbrook was then the oldest Oscar nominee in the best supporting actor category. “After 65 years or so [of acting], to be nominated for an Academy Award is a great gift,” he said in a CNN interview at the time. 

The actor was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but raised in Massachusetts by his grandparents after his parents abandoned Holbrook and his siblings when they were young. “I was brought up with ancient people,” he once said. “They didn’t play with children. We didn’t have toys. They sent me away at 7 to boarding school and I was lost. I was not brought up to sit around and make sweet talk to children. My job was to go out and make a living.” The future performer, who graduated from the Culver Military Academy and would serve four years in the Army during World War II, eventually moved to New York to study acting. His first big break arrived in 1956, when he performed as Twain on The Ed Sullivan Show, kicking off his career. 

Over the years, Holbrook kept busy, taking parts in shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, and Sons of Anarchy. He won five Emmy awards, among many, many other accolades, including the National Humanities Medal by then-President George W. Bush in 2003. He is survived by his three children, per the Times, his two stepdaughters, two grandchildren, and two step-grandchildren. 

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