Hal Holbrook

Hal Holbrook is an American actor and television director who rose to fame in 1954 for a one-person stage show he developed called Mark Twain Tonight while studying at Denison University. Later, the actor won a Tony for his first professional acting job in 1966’s Mark Twain Tonight! Aside from his Tony awards, he also won five Primetime Emmy Awards. He also got nominated for an Oscar for his credit role in 2008’s Into the Wild. He’s the oldest living Best Supporting Actor nominee.

In the latter part of his career, Holbrook appeared as Francis Preston Blair in Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film Lincoln. When he retired from his Mark Twain persona, The HuffPost gave him a touching tribute by describing him as “the man who has done more to keep Mark Twain on people’s minds than anyone else.” There’s no doubt in our mind that Hal Holbrook is one influential artist.