Hal Holbrook

Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (born February 17, 1925) is an American film and stage actor and television director. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show he developed while studying at Denison University, performing as Mark Twain. Holbrook made his film debut in Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966). He later gained international fame for his performance as Deep Throat in the 1976 film All the President's Men. He played Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 miniseries Lincoln. He has also appeared in such films as Julia (1977), The Fog (1980), Creepshow (1982), The Firm (1993), Hercules (1997), and Men of Honor (2000). Holbrook's role as Ron Franz in Sean Penn's Into the Wild (2007) earned him both Screen Actors Guild Award and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Until Robert Duvall was nominated for an Academy Award in 2015, Holbrook was the oldest actor to receive a Best Supporting Actor nomination. In 2009, Holbrook received critical acclaim for his performance as recently retired farmer, Abner Meecham, in the independent film That Evening Sun. In his later career, Holbrook appeared as Francis Preston Blair in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012), provided his voice as Mayday in the Disney animated film Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014) and as Whizzer in Blackway (2016). As a television actor, Holbrook is known for starring in and directing four episodes in Designing Women as Reese Watson, opposite his wife, Dixie Carter. Later in his career, he has starred in minor roles in Sons of Anarchy, The Event, and Rectify. He has guest-starred in many critically acclaimed television series such as NCIS, The West Wing, The Sopranos, ER, Bones, Grey's Anatomy and on Hawaii Five-0. Holbrook has won five Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award for his 1966 portrayal of Twain in Mark Twain Tonight. In 2003, Holbrook was honored with the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush.