R.I.P. Hal Holbrook

[Sabin]

His performance in Into the Wild is very, very dear.

[dws1982]

I did have the pleasure to see Holbrook on stage in one of his later tourings as Mark Twain. I read that he would make changes in the content from show to show to reflect the changes in world events.

When I saw it there were definitely some passages in there that were included to reflect the Iraq War and post-9/11 Islamaphobia.

[Greg]

I did have the pleasure to see Holbrook on stage in one of his later tourings as Mark Twain. I read that he would make changes in the content from show to show to reflect the changes in world events.

[danfrank]

A quick IMDB search of these three remarkable actors shows that though all three made their mark in the film world, they especially thrived in television. Among the three of them they had 49 (!) Emmy nominations and 15 competitive wins, then toss in a special Emmy for Ms. Tyson. Holbrook and Tyson also both won a Tony.

[danfrank]

Such a graceful, sensitive actor. He was a treasure.

Thanks, Magilla, for astutely pointing out what Holbrook, Tyson, and Leachman had in common. I wonder if these nonagenarians were all holding on to see the start of the post-Trump era. Nice to make one’s departure knowing that the country is being steered in a better direction.

[dws1982]

Wonderful actor.

His performance as Abraham Lincoln in the 1970's miniseries based on Carl Sandburg's biography was, in its own way, every bit as definitive as Daniel Day-Lewis's. (It was one of his Emmy wins.) Unfortunately, like a lot of TV from that era, it's not easy to see. It was released on DVD about nine years ago, which was how I was able to get a copy and see it again, but that DVD seems to be out of print. Still, if you can get your hands on it, it's well worth it.

I also had the opportunity to see him do his Mark Twain show onstage in January 2008, right around the time he was getting all that recognition for Into the Wild, for which I probably would've given him the Oscar. I watched the movie again a few months back, and it really doesn't hold up (I think it buys in to the cult of Christopher McCandless too much) except for some of the performances, his very much included.

[Big Magilla]

Here's our third mid-90s one-time Oscar nominee, whose career and awards recognition was far more extensive on TV, to die within the same week. He actually died three days before Cloris Leachman, four days before Cicely Tyson, but his death is only now being reported.

It's uncanny how these deaths-in-three keep happening.

Holbrook won four Emmys out of twelve nominations. His first, for 1972's That Certain Summer in which he played a gay man who leaves wife Hope Lange for Martin Sheen, was a performance that was as groundbreaking as Leachman's in The Last Picture Show and Tyson's in Sounder within the same year. It's remarkable that their careers as well as their lives lasted almost another fifty years.

[anonymous1980]

Story.

R.I.P.