Hal Holbrook: Into The Wild & Mark Twain actor dies at 95

February 2nd 2021, 9:09am

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

2021 please leave our legends alone! Late last night it was reported that Hal Holbrook, a prolific actor that channeled Mark Twain for years and earned an Oscar nomination at the age of 82 for Into The Wild, passed away at the age of 95. Holbrook's personal assistant, Joyce Cohen confirmed the news to "The New York Times" on Monday night.

A cause of death wasn't immediately revealed but Cohen confirmed that the actor passed away at his home in Beverly Hills. Holbrook was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1925 and he would go on to have a celebrated career on the stage and on the screen that spanned more than six decades. Holbrook became well-known for playing Mark Twain in his one-man stage show Mark Twain Tonight! The role earned Holbrook a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play while the television broadcast of the stage show earned him an Emmy nomination in 1967.

The Emmy nomination for the stage show was the first of many and Holbrook went on to win the coveted trophy five times. The actor an Emmy for playing former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln in Carl Sandburg's 1974 mini-series Lincoln while his other four Emmy wins came for The Bold Ones: The Senator in 1971, Portrait of America in 1989, and a double win in 1974 for Pueblo.

Holbrook also carved out a career in film as well. In 1974 he played Deep Throat in All the President's Men while he also took on roles in Magnum Force, Capricorn One, The Star Chamber, and John Carpenter's The Fog Wall Street. The actor also became the oldest actor at the time, at the age of 82, to be nominated for an Academy Award for his work as Ron Franz in Sean Penn's 2007 film, Into The Wild.

Holbrook continued to work on mainstream TV shows late into his career. He played Katey Sagal's father Nate Murdock on FX's Sons of Anarchy while his final screen roles came in Grey's Anatomy and Hawaii Five-0 at the age of 92. This year has already been a rough one as we continue to lose icons of the small and big screen in recent weeks. The consolation here is that at 95, Holbrook lived a very full life and he leaves behind a body of work that will be celebrated for years to come.

Rest easy Mr. Holbrook.