Holbrook, Hal (Harold Rowe, Jr.),
1925-2021, American actor, b. Cleveland, Oh. (Denison
Univ., BA, 1947). Holbrook was raised by his grandparents in South Weymouth,
Ma., before attending Culver Military Academy and then Denison Univ. His
college years were interrupted by service in World War II, during which he
was stationed in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and began acting in an
amateur troupe. Returning to Denison, his drama teacher suggested that he
portray Mark Twain as part of a travelling show titled Great
Personalities that Holbrook was planning with his first wife.
In 1954, Holbrook expanded his portrayal of Twain into a one man show titled
Mark Twain Tonight, which established him as an actor.
He took the show off-Broadway and recorded an album based on it, both in
1959, and then to Broadway in 1966, winning a Tony Award for his
performance, and on television in 1967; he made his final performance as
Twain in 2017. In between, Holbrook had established himself as a dependable
supporting actor in films and television, most notably portraying Deep
Throat in 1976’s All the President’s Men, as
a regular performer on the TV comedy Designing Women
(1986-1989), and as Francis Preston Blair in Lincoln
(2012). He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in
Into the Wild (2007), and was inducted into the
American Theatre Hall of Fame (1999) and awarded a National Humanities Medal
(2003).
See his autobiography (2011).
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