Hal Holbrook

Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show, titled Mark Twain Tonight!, that he developed while studying at Denison University. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1966 for his portrayal of Twain. He continued to perform his signature role for more than 60 years, retiring the show in 2017 due to his failing health. Throughout his career, he also won five Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on television and was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in film.

Holbrook made his film debut in Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966). He later gained international fame for his performance as Deep Throat in the 1976 film All the President's Men. He played Abraham Lincoln in the 1974 miniseries Lincoln and 1985 miniseries North and South. He also appeared in films such as Magnum Force (1973), Julia, Capricorn One (both 1977), The Fog (1980), Creepshow (1982), Wall Street (1987), The Firm (1993), Hercules (1997) and Men of Honor (2000).

Holbrook's role as Ron Franz in Sean Penn's Into the Wild (2007) earned both an Academy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 2009, he received critical acclaim for his performance as recently retired farmer Abner Meecham in the independent film That Evening Sun. He also portrayed Francis Preston Blair in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012).

In 2003, Holbrook was honored with the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush.

Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. was born on February 17, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Aileen (née Davenport) Holbrook (1905–1987), a vaudeville dancer, and Harold Rowe Holbrook Sr. (1902–1982).

Holbrook and his two elder sisters were abandoned by their parents when he was two years old. The three children were raised by their paternal grandparents, first in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and later in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio. He graduated from Culver Military Academy (now part of the Culver Academies) and then from Denison University, where an honors project about Mark Twain led him to develop the one-man show for which he became best known, a series of performances titled Mark Twain Tonight!. He also studied acting at HB Studio in New York City.

From 1942 through 1946, Holbrook served in the United States Army in World War II, achieving the rank of staff sergeant; he was stationed in Newfoundland, where he performed in theater productions such as the play Lady Precious Stream.

Holbrook's first solo performance as Twain was at Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvania in 1954. Ed Sullivan saw him and gave 30-year-old Holbrook his first national exposure on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 12, 1956, five days before his 31st birthday. Holbrook was also a member of the Valley Players (1941–1962), a summer-stock theater company based in Holyoke, Massachusetts, which performed at Mountain Park Casino Playhouse at Mountain Park. He joined The Lambs Club in 1955, where he began developing his one-man show. He was a member of the cast for several years and performed Mark Twain Tonight! as the 1957 season opener. The State Department even sent him on a European tour, which included pioneering appearances behind the Iron Curtain.