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:
- "You Can't Fool The Fat Man" by Randy Newman
- "In My Own Mind" by Lyle Lovett
- "River in the Rain" by Roger Miller
