Hal Holbrook, the Tony and multiple Emmy winner famed for his portrayal of Mark Twain, has died. He was 95.
The actor who also played Watergate informant Deep Throat in 1976’s “All the President’s Men” opposite Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford died on Jan. 23 in his Beverly Hills home, his assistant Joyce Cohen confirmed Monday.
Holbrook, a World War II veteran who discovered his love of the stage via Army performances during his service from 1942 to 1946 while stationed in Newfoundland, would eventually be nominated for an Oscar at 82 for his haunting performance in Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild.”
But he was perhaps best-known for his enduring portrayal of a seminal American literary figure.
The actor first played legendary author Mark Twain in a 1954 one-man show he developed while studying at Denison University in Ohio — and continued to play the Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer writer throughout the next six decades of his career.
“There was so much to learn and it was all fun — but the best part was getting a laugh from an audience. That was like drowning in candy,” Holbrook said of his most famous role in his 2011 memoir “Harold: The Boy Who Became Mark Twain.”
