Hal Holbrook

Hal Holbrook, who carved out a substantial acting career in television and film but who achieved his widest acclaim onstage, embodying Mark Twain in all his craggy splendor and vinegary wit in a one-man show seen around the world, died on Jan. 23 2021 at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 95. Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. was born on Feb. 17, 1925, in Cleveland. He was 2 years old when his parents left him. His mother, the former Aileen Davenport, ran off to join the chorus of the revue “Earl Carroll’s Vanities.” Harold Sr. went to California after leaving young Hal in the care of grandparents in South Weymouth, Mass. The young Mr. Holbrook spent his high school years at the Culver Military Academy in Indiana and then enrolled at Denison to major in the dramatic arts, but his education was interrupted by service as an Army engineer during World War II. Mr. Holbrook’s first marriage to Ruby Elaine Johnston ended in divorce in 1965. In addition to their daughter, Victoria, they had a son, David. His second marriage, to the actress Carol Eve Rossen, ended in divorce in 1983. They had a daughter, Eve. In 1984 he married the actress Dixie Carter, who died in 2010. He is survived by his children as well as two stepdaughters, Ginna Carter and Mary Dixie Carter; two grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren.