Hal Holbrook, the five-time Emmy-winning actor who was famed for portraying Mark Twain, has died at the age of 95. Holbrook died on January 23 at his home in Beverly Hills, his assistant told The New York Times.
The actor was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1925 and went on to have a highly decorated screen and stage career that spanned more than six decades.
He was perhaps best known for playing Mark Twain in his one-man stage show Mark Twain Tonight!, which played on Broadway in 1966 and earned Holbrook a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. A television showing of the stage show secured him an Emmy nomination a year later.
Holbrook played former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln on television in Carl Sandburg’s 1974 mini-series Lincoln, which earned him one of five Emmy statues. His four other Emmy wins came for Portrait of America in 1989, a double win for Pueblo in 1974, and The Bold Ones: The Senator in 1971.
Playing Deep Throat in 1974’s All the President’s Men was a highlight of his film career, while he was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Sean Penn’s 2007 feature Into the Wild.
Holbrook worked on many U.S. TV shows later in life, recurring in Sons of Anarchy as Nate Madock, as well as featuring in high-profile series including Bones. At the age of 92, his final screen roles came in Grey’s Anatomy and Hawaii Five-0.
