Hal Holbrook, Celebrated Actor, Dies At 95 In Beverly Hills

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor Hal Holbrook died Tuesday at his Beverly Hills home.

He was 95.

Holbrook is arguably known for portraying 19th century author Mark Twain in a one-man show called "Mark Twain Tonight!", which he performed for more than six decades all around the world. He is also known for his portrayals of other luminaries from American history, like Abraham Lincoln and the Watergate mole known as "Deep Throat."

Harold Row Holbrook, Jr. was born in Cleveland in 1925 to a Vaudeville actress and a shoe salesman, but was raised by his grandparents in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. He got involved in drama while attending boarding school and military school, and first started playing Twain as part of an honors project at Denison University in Ohio.

After performing in amateur theater productions during his years as a World War II soldier, Holbrook got his first permanent acting job on the daytime soap opera "The Brighter Day," and continued performing as Twain. Ed Sullivan saw one of his Twain performances, and invited him on his show in 1956.

Holbrook debuted on Broadway in 1961 in the play "Do You Know the Milky Way?" and performed there for decades in shows like "Man of La Mancha" and "Incident at Vichy." He would later perform on stage in iconic roles like King Lear and down-on-his luck salesman Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman."

He began performing as Twain on Broadway in 1966, a performance that won him rave reviews and a Tony for Best Actor. The next year, he portrayed Twain in a CBS television production that won him a primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama.

As late as 2009, at age 85, Holbrook continued to portray Twain on stage as many as 20 to 30 times a year, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Holbrook garnered a significant amount of awards and nominations throughout his career. In 1972, he was nominated for his performance in "That Certain Summer." In 1974, he won an Emmy for playing Abraham Lincoln in the NBC miniseries "Lincoln," and in 1976 he played Watergate informant Deep Throat in "All The President's Men."

He was also awarded Emmys for "The Senator" in 1971, "Pueblo" in 1973, and for the Alaska episode of the CNN documentary series "Portrait of America."

In 2008, 82-year-old Holbrook received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a retired widower in Sean Penn's "Into the Wild." At the time, he was the oldest performer to be nominated for that role.

He also starred in "The Group" (1966), "Wild in the Streets," (1968), "Magnum Force," (1973), "Capricorn One" (1977), "Julia" (1977), "The Star Chamber" (1983), "Wall Street" (1987), "The Firm" (1993) and "The Majestic (2001)."

Holbrook was married three times. He had two children, Victoria and David, with his first wife, and a daughter, Eve, with his second wife, Carol Eve Rossen. His third wife, Dixie Carter (with whom he performed in the 1980s sitcom "Designing Women," died in 2010.

Tributes to Holbrook have flooded social media.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper tweeted, "RIP Hal Holbrook, deliverer of one of the best and most potent lines in any American movie ever," and then posted a GIF of him as Deep Throat saying, "Forget the myths the media has created about the White House. The truth is these are not very bright guys and things got out of hand."

RIP Hal Holbrook, deliverer of one of the best and most potent lines in any American movie ever pic.twitter.com/LbzbBUJGFS
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 2, 2021

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns wrote: "Hal Holbrook was a wonderful person and an incomparable actor. After brilliantly portraying Mark Twain for six decades, Hal will finally get to meet in person. It should be quite a conversation" and linked a 2001 interview where Holbrook discussed Twain.

Hal Holbrook was a wonderful person and an incomparable actor. After brilliantly portraying Mark Twain for six decades, Hal will finally get to meet in person. It should be quite a conversation.

Here's Hal discussing Twain in our film from 2001:
https://t.co/dyFF01ma1h
— Ken Burns (@KenBurns) February 2, 2021

Goldie Hawn wrote: "Paying homage to Hal Holbrook, one our our great actors and for me personally the most wonderful, kind and generous co-star. Rest up Hal, you have some good work to do in heaven."

Paying homage to Hal Holbrook, one our our great actors and for me personally the most wonderful, kind and generous co-star. Rest up Hal, you have some good work to do in heaven. pic.twitter.com/RsgmyrsNIJ
— Goldie Hawn (@goldiehawn) February 2, 2021

Reese Witherspoon wrote: "So sad to hear this news. What a wonderful talent. Had the honor of working with him on Water for Elephants. I will never forget his incredible graciousness and his immense talent. May God carry him Home."

So sad to hear this news. What a wonderful talent. Had the honor of working with him on Water for Elephants. I will never forget his incredible graciousness and his immense talent. May God carry him Home. https://t.co/xpvLOWDGnB
— Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) February 2, 2021

—Michael Wittner and City News Service contributed to this report.