Thursday 4 February 2021

Hal Holbrook, Magnum Force star, dies aged 95

It’s sad to report that Hal Holbrook, the Oscar-nominated actor known for playing Deep Throat in All the President's Men, has died at 95.
Holbrook, who also appeared in Wall Street, Into The Wild and Lincoln, died on 23 January, his assistant told the New York Times.
As Deep Throat, Holbrook leaks vital evidence to the journalists investigating the Watergate scandal.
Holbrook also had a distinguished theatre career, mostly notably in his one-man show portraying Mark Twain.

He had numerous TV credits to his name, including two appearances in US political drama The West Wing as Republican Albie Duncan.
After serving in the Army in Newfoundland during World War Two, Holbrook attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
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.
He won his first Emmy in 1971 for his work on the NBC drama series The Bold Ones: The Senator and took two more trophies for playing Commander Lloyd Bucher in the 1973 TV film Pueblo, about the capture of a US spy ship by North Korea in 1968.


Holbrook's craggy voice and appearance lent itself to historical portrayals and other parts that required gravitas, such as his portrayal of US President Abraham Lincoln in the TV mini-series Lincoln, for which he also won an Emmy.
He reprised the role in the ABC miniseries North and South in 1985 and its sequel the following year.
Among many other shows, he also appeared in the West Wing, The Sopranos, Bones, Grey's Anatomy and Hawaii Five-0.
On the big screen, as well as making an impression as Deep Throat and in Into the Wild, he played a power-hungry police lieutenant in the Dirty Harry movie Magnum Force.
In Steven Spielberg's 2012 Lincoln biopic, Holbrook played presidential adviser Preston Blair. He also featured in the films The Firm, Capricorn One, The Fog, and Water for Elephants.
In 2008, aged 82, Holbrook became the oldest actor to have been nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role in Into the Wild, starring Emile Hirsch.
However, he has since been overtaken by Christopher Plummer, who won in the same category in 2018 aged 88.
In recent years he became a regular presence on US television, with roles in series including Sons of Anarchy, Rectify and the sitcom Designing Women.
Holbrook's memoir Harold: The Boy Who Became Mark Twain was published in September 2011.
He was married three times. He and 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 as two grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.
RIP Sir 

 

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