Hal Holbrook

Description

Harold Rowe Holbrook, Jr. (b. February 17 1925) is a Tony Award-winning American actor. <p>Holbrook was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Aileen Davenport, a vaudeville dancer, and Harold Rowe Holbrook. He was mostly raised in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. Holbrook graduated from the Culver Academies and Denison University, where an honors project about Mark Twain led him to develop the one-man show he is best known for, a series of performances called Mark Twain Tonight. Holbrook served in the US Army in World War II and was stationed in Newfoundland, where he performed in little theatre, including the play Madam Precious. <p>According to Playbill, Holbrook’s first solo performance as Twain was at Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvania in 1954. Ed Sullivan saw him and gave Holbrook his first national exposure on his February 12 1956 show. The State Department even sent him on a European tour, which included pioneering appearances behind the Iron Curtain. In 1959, Holbrook first...