Manny P. here…
“`Hal Holbrook was a throwback to the great character actors of Hollywood’s Golden Age. He initially received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show he created, Mark Twain Tonight!, while studying at Denison University. He would develop into a reliable cinematic stalwart, best remembered as Deep Throat in All the President’s Men.
“`Ed Sullivan saw his one-man performance and gave Holbrook his first national exposure on his variety program on February 12, 1956. Holbrook reprised his show on Broadway over the next fifty years. Until Holbrook retired his stage show in 2017, aged ninety-two, Mark Twain Tonight! toured the country, which amounted to over twenty-one hundred performances.
HAL HOLBROOK as MARK TWAIN
“`Holbrook would lend able support to such worthy cinema as The Great White Hope, Julia, Midway, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Magnum Force, Wall Street, The Firm, Lincoln, and Into the Wild. On the small screen, he guest-starred in The F. B. I., The Name of the Game, Walt Disney’s Wonderful of Color, The West Wing, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Sopranos. Holbrook was busy in television movies, including That Certain Summer, North and South, and A Killing in a Small Town. He also had recurring roles in The Bold Ones, Designing Women, Evening Shade, Sons of Anarchy, The Event, and the Perry Mason reboot.
“`In 2003, President George W Bush honored Holbrook with a National Humanities Medal for charming audiences with the wit and wisdom of Mark Twain. In 2014, Hal was the subject of Scott Teems’ documentary Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey depicting his lasting career as portraying Twain. His audiences included Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Carter.
“`With his passing, we in the audience already miss his association with the celebrated author. For his fans, never the twain shall meet.
“`Hal Holbrook was ninety-five.
Until next time> “never forget”
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