Hal Holbrook dies aged 95

 

Oscar-nominated actor, Hal Holbrook, noted for playing Deep Throat in All the President’s Men has died aged 95. Holbrook, also appeared in Wall Street, Into The Wild and Lincoln, died on 23 January, according to his assistant.

Holbrook was born in Cleveland on 17 February 1925, and his mother was a Vaudeville dancer. He stared acting at the afe of 17 when he performed in the popular farce The Man Who Came to Dinner at Cleveland’s Cain Park Theatre.  He later ventured to New York and studied with the actress Uta Hagen and in the 1950s Holbrook acted on the CBS soap opera The Brighter Day. His craggy voice and appearance lent itself to historical portrayals and such as his portrayal of US President Abraham Lincoln in the TV mini-series Lincoln, for which he also won an Emmy. In Steven Spielberg’s 2012 Lincoln biopic, Holbrook played presidential adviser Preston Blair and also featured in the films, The Firm, Capricorn One, The Fog, and Water for Elephants.

He was married three times and his third wife Dixie Carter who also appeared in Designing Women, were married in 1984 and remained together until her death in 2010. He is survived by his three children and two stepdaughters as well two grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

Apart from having a distinguished theatre career, mostly in his one-man show portraying Mark Twain, which brought him his greatest fame, and earned him a Tony Award for Broadway performance in 1966 and the first of his 10 Emmy nominations in 1967, he had numerous Tv credits to his name including two appearances in US political drama The West Wing and Republican Albie Duncan.