© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Beyond Mark Twain: A Conversation With Hal Holbrook

Alan Light
/
Creative Commons

I get to talk to a lot of remarkable people and still I tell you that you're about to hear a conversation with one of the most remarkable people I've encountered in five years.

He is Hal Holbrook, he's about to turn 90 on February 17, and he will celebrate by performing as Mark Twain in Hartford on that day. We recorded this conversation about 20 hours ago. He's so dynamic, and passionate, and fun to talk to that I lost track of time and never got to ask him about the love of his life, his third wife, actress Dixie Carter, who died five years ago. A southern Republican married to Holbrook, a northeastern liberal. She is to him what Olivia Clemens is to Twain, a loss from which he can never recover.

I also didn't get to ask Holbrook about his nightmarish childhood, abandoned by both parents as a little boy and sent to Suffield Academy at age seven.

So, maybe a second interview... Please?

The Mark Twain House and Museum presents Hal Holbrook in his solo performance of Mark Twain Tonight. Holbrook will perform at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford on his 90th birthday, Tuesday, February 17, at 7:30 p.m. The show benefits the Mark Twain House and Museum. Tickets can be purchased online at bushnell.org or by phone at 860-987-5900.

What do you think? Comment below, email colin@wnpr.org, or tweet @wnprcolin.

GUEST:

  • Hal Holbrook is an American film, television, and stage actor famous for his portrayal of Mark Twain in the solo show he created, Mark Twain Tonight, for which he won a Tony Award. His movies include All the President's Men, Lincoln, and Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for an Oscar in 2008. He has won five Primetime Emmy Awards, and he's the subject of a documentary by Scott Teems and Laura D. Smith, Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey.

SONGS:

Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.

Fund the Facts

You just read trusted, local journalism that’s free for everyone, thanks to donors like you.

If that matters to you, now is the time to give. Join the 50,000+ members powering honest reporting and a more connected — and civil! — Connecticut.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Fund the Facts

You just read trusted, local journalism that’s free for everyone, thanks to donors like you.

If that matters to you, now is the time to give. Join the 50,000+ members powering honest reporting and a more connected — and civil! — Connecticut.