Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr.
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Awards
Hal Holbrook won a Tony Award in 1966 for his one-man show Mark Twain Tonight and earned an Emmy for playing Abraham Lincoln in the 1974 television biography Lincoln. He became the oldest male Oscar nominee at age 82 for his role in Into the Wild 2007. Holbrook performed as Mark Twain over 2,000 times in his career.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Hal Holbrook — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Hal Holbrook by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Hal Holbrook — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Growing up in South Weymouth, Massachusetts with his paternal grandparents, Hal Holbrook attended the Culver Academies. He served in the Army in Newfoundland during World War II and graduated from Denison University in 1948. His mother, Eileen Davenport, was a vaudeville dancer, and his father, Harold Rowe Holbrook Sr., was a salesman.
Holbrook first performed as Mark Twain in 1954 at Lock Haven State Teachers College, a show that caught Ed Sullivan’s attention and led to a feature on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1966 for Mark Twain Tonight. His television work earned him multiple Emmys, including for The Bold Ones: The Senator 1970, Pueblo 1973, and Lincoln 1974. In film, he played Deep Throat in All the President’s Men 1976 and received an Oscar nomination for Into the Wild 2007.
Holbrook was married three times: to Ruby Holbrook from 1945 to 1965, to Carol Eve Rossen from 1966 to 1983, and to Dixie Carter from 1984 until her death in 2010. He had children Victoria Holbrook and David Holbrook with Ruby, and a daughter Eve with Carol. He was stepfather to Ginna Carter and Mary Dixie Carter.
Holbrook’s portrayal of Mark Twain influenced generations of performers; he received the first-ever Mark Twain Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 from the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. He became the oldest male Oscar nominee in 2008, a record he held. His one-man show Mark Twain Tonight has been performed over 2,000 times. He brought Mark Twain to life on stage and screen.
The complete filmography of Hal Holbrook — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Hal Holbrook — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Hal Holbrook — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
On Stage Your Job as Actor Is to Present and Show the Story by Your Behavior, Body Language, and Vocal Work. in Film, You Musn’t. You Just Have to Be. You Are…and It’s Mostly Intuitive. the Amount of Characterization You Do Is Very Minimal. in Fact, You Try Not to Act at All. It’s Actually Better That Way, and It’s Taken Me Years to Learn That.
Most Everybody Today That’s Young Is Operating Under the Insane Idea That What We’ve Got Going on Is the Best That There Is. but It’s Not. Current Entertainment Is Cheap, Shoddy, Infantile, Adolescent, Not Grown-up. We’re Fed Imagery That’s Really Pornographic, by People with an Infantile Idea of Sexuality. It’s a Sad and Depressing Thing.
Mark Twain Is Something Precious to Me. It’s My Side Arm Through Life.
On Returning to Theatre a Month After His Then Wife Dixie Carter Had Died: I Canceled Five Shows Because of What Was Going On. I Flew to L.A. to Do Thousand Oaks and Turned on My Cellphone and Heard That Dixie Had Another Stroke on Top of the Cancer and I Turned Right Around on Southwest. Look … I Need to Work. If I Don’t Work, I Could Sit Down and Contemplate Suicide. My Wife Was No Quitter … She Would Be Telling Me to Get Out There to Do My Work and That’s What I’m Doing.
Little-known facts about Hal Holbrook — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Becoming the oldest male actor nominated for an Academy Award in 2008 at age 82, Holbrook displaced Ralph Richardson who previously held that distinction.
During World War II, he served in the Army and acted in plays where he was stationed.
At age 29 he began touring his one-man show of the elderly Mark Twain, even performing for President Dwight D. Eisenhower; in June 2005 he returned Mark Twain Tonight to Broadway for a sold-out month-long run with rave reviews from The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
After numerous portrayals of Abraham Lincoln, one winning him an Emmy, he played a supporting role in Lincoln 2012, for which Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar.
He was a 1948 graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
The Hal Holbrook Theatre is located in the Dixie Performing Arts Center in Huntingdon, Tennessee, named in honor of his wife Dixie Carter from nearby McLemoresville.
He starred in two projects based on John Grisham books: The Firm 1993 and The Street Lawyer 2003.
He is the only actor so far to win an Emmy Award for playing Abraham Lincoln.
He portrayed Abraham Lincoln on The Ed Sullivan Show, in Lincoln 1974, and in both North & South miniseries in 1985 and 1986.
Stepfather of Mary Dixie Carter and Ginna Carter.
Won the 1966 Tony Award for Actor in a Drama for Mark Twain Tonight.
Appeared in three Best Picture Oscar nominees: All the President’s Men 1976, Julia 1977, and Lincoln 2012.
In his guest appearance on The West Wing, his character describes the fate of the USS Pueblo, a ship he portrayed in the 1973 TV movie Pueblo.
Studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village, New York City.
Appeared as Mark Twain at the restored Midland Theatre in Newark, Ohio; a statue of Twain sitting on a bench with a plaque honoring Holbrook was installed in front of the theatre in October 2003.
One daughter, Eve, with Carol Eve Rossen.
Two children, Victoria Holbrook and David Holbrook, with Ruby Holbrook.
Spent three years with the U.S. Army Engineers in World War II.
Ex-brother-in-law of Ellen Rossen and Robert Rossen.
Part-time Denison University instructor and banker Everett D. Reese reportedly bought Holbrook his first white Mark Twain suit.
Has two grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.
First major acting success as Mark Twain in a one-man show which won him a Tony Award.
In 2012, the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum announced Holbrook would receive the first-ever Mark Twain Lifetime Achievement Award.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Hal Holbrook.
Celebrities similar to Hal Holbrook — same craft, ranked by reach.
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