Hal Holbrook, the award-winning character actor who toured the world for more than 50 years as Mark Twain in an individual show and delivered the immortal tips “Follow the Money” in the classic political thriller “All the President’s Men.” he died. He was 95 years old.
Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP
Holbrook died Jan. 23 at his home in Beverly Hills, California, his publicist, Steve Rohr, told CBS News on Tuesday.
Actors across the spectrum lamented Holbrook’s passing, inclusive Bradley Whitford, who called him an “amazing actor” and Viola Davis, WHO he wrote “RIP to the always wonderful Hal Holbrook.”
Holbrook pursued a busy career in theater, television and film, winning five Emmys and one Tony. His more than two dozen credits range from Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” to Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street.” He also had a steady presence on television, appearing in programs such as “The West Wing”, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Bones”.
But his most famous film role was as a key source for Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward (played by Robert Redford) in the 1976 adaptation of “All the President’s Men,” Woodward’s best-selling short story. and his journalist Carl Bernstein on his investigation into The Richard Nixon Administration and the Watergate scandal that led to his resignation.
Holbrook played the mysterious informant “Deep Throat” (later revealed to be an FBI officer Mark Felt) who provided key information to Woodward. The most famous advice, uttered from the shadows of a garage – “Follow the money” – became an instant phrase, but it was never said in real life. The line was invented by screenwriter William Goldman.
“Follow the money” may have been his most famous words in the film, but Twain was his deciding role. The association began in 1954 when an instructor at Denison University in Ohio gave Holbrook the role as part of a thesis assignment.
Holbrook and his first wife, Ruby Johnson, later created a two-person show, playing Shakespeare characters in Twain. After the birth of her daughter, Victoria, she began working on a one-man Twain show while working on the soap opera “The Brightest Day.”
Holbrook, raised in Cleveland, was 29 when he first acted as Twain (who was portrayed as 70) and eventually developed the role in a two-act show called “Mark Twain Tonight !,” which took him to schools, nightclubs and theaters. He took him to Broadway three times (1966, 1977 and 2005) and won a Tony Award for Best Dramatic Actor for the 1966 version.
“The truth is, it’s been a wonderful company,” Holbrook told The Plain Dealer in 2017. “It would be an understatement to say I like it. It never ceases to amaze me. Even after all these years, still I am amazed at his vision of human character. Much of what I had to say more than 100 years ago is right in today’s money. “
In 1959, after years of perfecting his material in small towns, Holbrook premiered his Twain in an off-Broadway theater in New York with great critical acclaim. “Mr. Holbrook’s material is disturbing, his ability to keep an audience acting is brilliant,” he told The New York Times. The New Yorker called it “a dazzling display of virtuosity.”
Holbrook would travel as Twain, in the familiar white dress and white hair of the writer, as long as he was not busy with other acting jobs. He would update the program to suit the times and did the role on his own about 2,200 times. She hung up the white dress in 2017.
“He did a lot of work over the years, never less than first-rate, but Twain’s performances came close to perfection and will stay with me forever.” he tweeted Michael McKean.
He was meticulous in his preparations, taking up to 3 and a half hours to put on his make-up and insisting on the large stage furniture so that, at 6 feet in height, it did not look larger than 5 feet-8 1 / 2 was Twain. He read books by and about the author and went through newspaper files in search of interviews with Twain and stories about his lecture tours.
During an open-stage performance at Wolf Trap, near Vienna, Virginia, lightning flashed and thunder erupted just as Holbrook reached the humidor to look for a cigar. He ran back. There was a roar of laughter. Holbrook looked at the audience over his glasses. When he heard it again, he spoke, “I wasn’t talking to you.”
Over the years, Holbrook took “Mark Twain Tonight!” in numerous foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia. Its audiences included Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Carter.
When not representing Twain, Holbrook showed impressive versatility. He was the father-in-law of Burt Reynolds in the 90’s television series “Evening Shade”. He appeared as Abraham Lincoln in two different miniseries The 16th President and won one of his Emmys for the lead role in the 1970-71 television series “The Senator.”
Other notable stage credits included “After the Fall,” “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” and “I Never Singed for My Dad.” In 2008, at age 82, she received her first Oscar nomination for playing a lone widower who befriends young vagabond Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) in director Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild.”
In 1980, he met actress Dixie Carter when they both starred in the television movie “The Killing of Randy Webster.” Although they were attracted to each other, each had suffered two failed marriages and at first distrusted each other. They finally married in 1984, two years before Carter landed the role of Julia Sugarbaker in the long-running television series “Designing Women.” Holbrook appeared on the show regularly in the late 1980s as her boyfriend, Reese Watson. He died in 2010.
Holbrook had two children, Victoria and David, with his first wife, and a daughter, Evie, from his second marriage to actress Carol Rossen. He was a stepfather to Mary Dixie Carter and Ginna Carter.
