In conjuction with The Remnant Trust at IPFW
Hal Holbrook
“Mark Twain Tonight!”
Hal Holbrook is an Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor who is one of the great craftsmen of stage and screen. He is best known for his performance as Mark Twain, for which he won a Tony and the first of his 10 Emmy Award nominations.
Holbrook first played Mark Twain as a solo act in 1954, at Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvania. The show was a success that created a buzz. After seeing the performance, Ed Sullivan, the host of TV’s premier variety show, featured him on Toast of the Town on Feb. 12, 1956. This led to an international tour sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, which included appearances in Iron Curtain countries. Holbrook brought the show to off-Broadway in 1959. He even played Mark Twain for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The 1966 Mark Twain Tonight! Broadway production brought Holbrook even more acclaim and the Tony Award. In 1967, Mark Twain Tonight! was presented on television by CBS and Xerox, and Holbrook received an Emmy for his performance. He reprised the show on Broadway in 1977 and 2005. By that time, he had played Samuel Clemens on stage more than 2,000 times. Holbrook was at least 80 years old during his most recent Broadway run, older (for the first time) than the character he was portraying.
Aside from the stage, Holbrook made his reputation primarily on television, and was memorable as Abraham Lincoln, as Senator Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones, and as Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. All of these roles brought him Emmy Awards. On Jan. 22, 2008, he became the oldest male performer ever nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting turn in Into the Wild.