by Conan Simmons – February 6, 2021 – 4:46 pm
Playing Mark Twain in a one man show on stage from 1954 to 2005, Hal Holbrook also had memorable performances in film and television. The famed actor passed away January 23 in Beverly Hills.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio on February 17, 1925 Hal Holbrook made his television debut in the 1950’s on the daytime soap opera, ‘The Brighter Day’. He brought his Mark Twain performance onto television screens with an appearance on ‘The Ed Sullivan’ show and earned an Emmy nomination for his special ‘Hal Holbrook: Mark Twain Tonight’ in 1967.
Holbrook made his feature film debut in the 1968 political satire, ‘Wild in the Streets’ opposite Richard Pryor.
Taking roles on both the big and small screen in the 1970’s, Hal Holbrook won Emmy’s throughout the decade, winning Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for ‘The Bold Ones’ in 1970 and another in 1973 for ‘Pueblo’. He also won Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in 1976’s ‘Lincoln’. His feature films of that decade included ‘They Only Kill Their Masters’ opposite James Garner in 1972, ‘Magnum Force’ opposite Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry in 1973, he portrayed the mysterious Deep Throat in 1974’s ‘All the President’s Men’ opposite Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. He appeared in the ensemble 1976 war epic ‘Midway’ alongside Charlton Heston, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Toshiro Mifune and Glenn Ford. In 1977 he appeared opposite Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave in the Oscar nominated picture ‘Julia’.
The 1980’s saw Hal Holbrook take on more genre fare such as John Carpenter’s 1980 horror thriller ‘The Fog’ and 1982’s EC comics inspired horror anthology ‘Creepshow’. Toward the end of the decade he appeared in Oliver Stone’s 1987 drama ‘Wall Street’ starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen. In 1989 Hal Holbrook won another Emmy award for Outstanding Performance in Informational Programming for his work on ‘Portrait of America’.
Always a top actor, Hal Holbrook continued to work in films starring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, from Tom Cruise in 1993’s ‘The Firm’ to the 2001 drama ‘The Majestic’ starring Jim Carrey.
In 2007, Hal Holbrook earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work on ‘Into the Wild’.
Holbrook’s final decade in film brought him roles opposite Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz in 2011’s ‘Water for Elephants’ and with Daniel Day-Lewis as ‘Lincoln’ in Steven Spielberg’s 2012 biopic. His final film was the 2015 thriller, ‘Blackway’ starring Anthony Hopkins and Julia Stiles.
Hal Holbrook was married three times, first to Ruby Holbrook from 1945 to 1965 (divorced, 2 children), then Carol Eve Rossen from 1966 to 1983 (divorced, 1 child), and finally to Dixie Carter from 1984 to her passing in 2010.