Hal Holbrook
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Not Available
American actor Hal Holbrook broke into performing as a monologist at various esoteric nightspots in San Francisco and Greenwich Village. Holbrook worked on stage in the early 1950s and appeared on the CBS TV soap opera The Brighter Day. He might have spent the rest of his career as a talented but unremarkable performer had Holbrook not decided to bank upon his lifelong fascination with humorist Mark Twain. Donning elaborate Twain makeup and costume and memorizing several hours' worth of the writer's material, Holbrook put together a one man show, Mark Twain Tonight. After touring in small towns, Holbrook brought Mark Twain to an off-Broadway theater, scoring an immediate hit which led to some 2000 subsequent appearances as Twain (one of these in a 1967 CBS one-hour special) and a top-selling record album. The fame attending Mark Twain Tonight enabled Holbrook to flourish as a starring actor in numerous non-Twain projects. Among Holbrook's films are The Group (1966), Wild in the Streets (1968), Magnum Force (1973), The Star Chamber (1987), Wall Street (1987) and The Firm (1993); in 1976 the actor portrayed the shadowy amalgam character "Deep Throat" in All the President's Men. Holbrook has also stayed busy in TV, starring on the weekly series The Senator (1970) and appearing several times as Abraham Lincoln in various network specials. A multi-Emmy winner, Hal Holbrook spent much of the late 1980s and early 1990s appearing as a regular cast member on the CBS sitcoms Designing Women (from 1986 to 1989, alongside real-life wife Dixie Carter) and Evening Shade (1990-94) in the role of Burt Reynolds' father, Evan Evans. Holbrook's big-screen activity also crescendoed during the 1990s and early 2000s; among many other assignments, he resumed his frequent typecast as a shady businessman with a deceptively paternal exterior in Sydney Pollack's blockbuster Grisham thriller The Firm (1993), provided an animated voice for the children's fantasy Cats Don't Dance (1997), and nastily evoked the prejudices of a bigoted commanding naval officer named Mr. Pappy in the military drama Men of Honor (2000). Holbrook also drew on his vast knowledge of Mark Twain as one of the participants in the epic-length documentary Ken Burns' Mark Twain (2001). The distinguished thespian received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his work in Sean Penn's critically-acclaimed drama Into the Wild (2007). He starred in the 2009 drama That Evening Sun, and had a major part in the 2011 adaptation of the novel Water for Elephants. In 2012 Steven Spielberg cast him in his long-gestating biopic Lincoln.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
20% | Blackway |
|
$17k | 2016 |
45% | Planes: Fire And Rescue |
|
$42.7M | 2014 |
No Score Yet | Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey |
|
— | 2014 |
13% | Savannah |
|
$26.2k | 2013 |
53% | Promised Land |
|
$7.7M | 2013 |
No Score Yet | Flying Lessons |
|
— | 2012 |
89% | Lincoln |
|
$129.5M | 2012 |
60% | Water for Elephants |
|
$58.8M | 2011 |
No Score Yet | Flying Lessons |
|
— | 2010 |
No Score Yet | Good Day for It |
|
— | 2010 |
82% | That Evening Sun |
|
$84.3k | 2009 |
No Score Yet | Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times |
|
— | 2009 |
83% | Into the Wild |
|
$18.2M | 2007 |
No Score Yet | Silent Wings: The American Glider Pilots of WWII |
|
— | 2007 |
No Score Yet | Butch Cassidy and the Outlaw Trail |
|
— | 2003 |
67% | Shade |
|
— | 2003 |
No Score Yet | Purpose |
|
— | 2002 |
No Score Yet | Sacred Stone: Temple on the Mississippi |
|
— | 2002 |
42% | The Majestic |
|
— | 2001 |
No Score Yet | Valor: Incredible Stories of Patriotism and Courage |
|
— | 2001 |
No Score Yet | Haven |
|
— | 2001 |
No Score Yet | Legend of the Three Trees |
|
— | 2001 |
42% | Men of Honor |
|
— | 2000 |
51% | Waking the Dead |
|
— | 2000 |
No Score Yet | The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
|
— | 2000 |
No Score Yet | Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail |
|
— | 2000 |
9% | The Bachelor |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | The Florentine |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | Beauty |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | Rusty: A Dog's Tale |
|
— | 1998 |
43% | Judas Kiss |
|
— | 1998 |
12% | Hush |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | My Own Country |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | Ken Follett's 'The Third Twin' |
|
— | 1997 |
No Score Yet | Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery |
|
— | 1997 |
75% | Eye of God |
|
— | 1997 |
No Score Yet | All the Winters That Have Been |
|
— | 1997 |
No Score Yet | Operation Delta Force |
|
— | 1997 |
74% | Cats Don't Dance |
|
— | 1997 |
No Score Yet | Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail |
|
— | 1997 |
64% | Carried Away |
|
— | 1996 |
No Score Yet | Innocent Victims |
|
— | 1996 |
No Score Yet | Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester |
|
— | 1995 |
No Score Yet | Stormchasers |
|
— | 1995 |
No Score Yet | American Experience |
|
— | 1995 |
No Score Yet | Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor |
|
— | 1994 |
No Score Yet | Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle |
|
— | 1994 |
75% | The Firm |
|
— | 1993 |
No Score Yet | Bonds of Love |
|
— | 1993 |
No Score Yet | NOVA |
|
— | 1993 |
No Score Yet | The Secrets of Dick Smith |
|
— | 1991 |
37% | Fletch Lives |
|
— | 1989 |
No Score Yet | Day One |
|
— | 1989 |
No Score Yet | Sorry, Wrong Number |
|
— | 1989 |
33% | The Unholy |
|
— | 1988 |
79% | Wall Street |
|
— | 1987 |
No Score Yet | Behind Enemy Lines |
|
— | 1987 |
No Score Yet | Dress Gray |
|
— | 1986 |
No Score Yet | Celebrity |
|
— | 1985 |
No Score Yet | George Washington |
|
— | 1984 |
71% | The Star Chamber |
|
— | 1983 |
No Score Yet | Girls Nite Out |
|
— | 1983 |
73% | Creepshow |
|
— | 1982 |
No Score Yet | Warlords: The Generals |
|
— | 1981 |
No Score Yet | The Killing of Randy Webster |
|
— | 1981 |
No Score Yet | El Secuestro del Presidente |
|
— | 1980 |
75% | The Fog |
|
— | 1980 |
No Score Yet | When Hell Was in Session |
|
— | 1979 |
No Score Yet | Murder by Natural Causes |
|
— | 1979 |
No Score Yet | Natural Enemies |
|
— | 1979 |
62% | Capricorn One |
|
— | 1978 |
No Score Yet | Awakening Land |
|
— | 1978 |
76% | Julia |
|
— | 1977 |
No Score Yet | Rituals |
|
— | 1977 |
No Score Yet | Our Town |
|
— | 1977 |
47% | Midway |
|
— | 1976 |
No Score Yet | All Over |
|
— | 1976 |
94% | All the President's Men |
|
— | 1976 |
No Score Yet | The Girl from Petrovka |
|
— | 1974 |
8% | Jonathan Livingston Seagull |
|
— | 1973 |
72% | Magnum Force |
|
— | 1973 |
No Score Yet | They Only Kill Their Masters |
|
— | 1972 |
No Score Yet | That Certain Summer |
|
— | 1972 |
43% | The Great White Hope |
|
— | 1970 |
No Score Yet | The People Next Door |
|
— | 1970 |
63% | Wild in the Streets |
|
— | 1968 |
No Score Yet | Mark Twain Tonight |
|
— | 1967 |
60% | The Group |
|
— | 1966 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet |
Designing Women
1986-1993
|
|
|
90% |
Bones
2005-2017
|
|
|
84% |
Grey's Anatomy
2005
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Hawaii Five-0
2010-2020
|
|
|
95% |
Rectify
2013-2016
|
|
|
52% |
Monday Mornings
2013
|
|
|
87% |
Sons of Anarchy
2008-2014
|
|
|
67% |
The Event
2010-2011
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
ER
1994-2009
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
NCIS
2003
|
|
|
92% |
The Sopranos
1999-2007
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Hope & Faith
2003-2006
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
NOW with Bill Moyers
2002-2005
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Becker
1998-2004
|
|
|
75% |
The West Wing
1999-2006
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Family Law
1999-2002
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Outer Limits
1995-2002
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
American Experience
1988
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Evening Shade
1990-1994
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
NOVA
1974
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Bold Ones
1968-1973
|
|
|
Quotes from Hal Holbrook's Characters
Deep Throat: | Get out your notebook, there's more. Your lives are in danger. |
Deep Throat: | The list is longer than anyone can imagine. It involves the entire US intelligence community. FBI, CIA, Justice, it's incredible. |
Ron Franz: | I'm going to miss you when you go. |
Christopher McCandless: | I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things. |
Father Malone: | "Blake, I have your gold. My grandfather stole it from you. I'm the one who must answer for it." |
Father Malone: | Blake, I have your gold. My grandfather stole it from you. I'm the one who must answer for it. |
Charlie: | We'll have you in the record books. Oldest man to run away to the circus. |
Old Jacob: | I'm not running away...I'm coming home. |
Ron Franz: | When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God's light shines on you. |
Ron Franz: | But when you forgive, you love. And when you love, God's light shines through you. |
Lou Mannheim: | The thing with money is, it makes you do things you don't want to do. |
Lou Mannheim: | The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don't want to do. |
Old Jacob: | I'm not running away... I'm coming home. |
Old Jacob: | I'm not running away, I'm coming home. |
Ron Franz: | When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God's light shines on you. |
Wilma Northrup: | (after Henry slams her against the crate several times) - That was great, Henry. That was just great. You think this is a Friday night fight? Is that what you think? You want to see some real punching? Same old Henry. Afraid of your own shadow. You know what, Henry? You're a regular barnyard exhibit. Sheep's eyes, chicken guts...piggy friends... and shit for brains. No good at departmental politics...no good at making money...no good at making an impression on anybody! And no good at all in bed! When was the last time you got it up, Henry? When was the last time you were a man in our bed? Now, get out of my way, or I swear you'll be wearing your balls for earrings! I swear to God if you ever touch-- (the monster pops out of the crate and eats her.) |
Wilma Northrup: | (after Henry slams her against the crate several times) That was great, Henry. That was just great. You think this is a Friday night fight? Is that what you think? You want to see some real punching? Same old Henry. Afraid of your own shadow. You know what, Henry? You're a regular barnyard exhibit. Sheep's eyes, chicken guts, piggy friends, and shit for brains. No good at departmental politics...no good at making money...no good at making an impression on anybody! And no good at all in bed! When was the last time you got it up, Henry? When was the last time you were a man in our bed? Now, get out of my way, or I swear you'll be wearing your balls for earrings! I swear to God if you ever touch (the monster pops out of the crate and eats her.) |
Henry Northrup: | ...Just tell it to call you Billie. |
Henry Northrup: | Just tell it to call you Billie. |
Henry Northrup: | Just tell it to call you Billie, you bitch! |
Wilma Northrup: | What are you laughing about? Your best friend gets in a scrape with a girl and you're laughing? |
Henry Northrup: | There is a funny side to it, Wilma. Wait till you see. You'll think so yourself. |
Wilma Northrup: | You're hysterical, Henry. Just what I would have expected! |
Henry Northrup: | No, I don't think you'll expect this, Wilma. This is going to be an entirely new experience. |
Deep Throat: | Follow the money. |