Hal Holbrook, All the President's Men star, dies aged 95

Holbrook's TV credits included roles in The West Wing and The Sopranos

Hal Holbrook, the Oscar-nominated actor known for playing Deep Throat in All the President's Men, has died at 95.

Holbrook, who also appeared in Wall Street, Into The Wild and Lincoln, died on 23 January, his assistant told the New York Times.

As Deep Throat, Holbrook leaks vital evidence to the journalists investigating the Watergate scandal.

Holbrook also had a distinguished theatre career, mostly notably in his one-man show portraying Mark Twain.

He had numerous TV credits to his name, including two appearances in US political drama The West Wing as Republican Albie Duncan.

Bradley Whitford, who played Josh Lyman in the series, tweeted: "My God, what an incredible actor. Rest In Peace, Hal Holbrook."

Director Edgar Wright said: "What work Hal Holbrook leaves behind. Loved his performances in The Fog, All The President's Men, Magnum Force, Creepshow, Capricorn One, The Star Chamber, Wild In The Streets & Into The Wild, among many many others."

Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford starred as the Washington Post reporters in All the President's Men

Holbrook's stage and TV recreation of the revered American novelist, humorist and social critic in Mark Twain Tonight arguably brought him his greatest fame.

It earned him a Tony award for his Broadway performance in 1966 and the first of his 10 Emmy nominations in 1967. In the course of his long career Holbrook won five of the Emmys for which he had been nominated.

Holbrook first crafted and then performed Twain while he was a 19-year-old college student. His first big appearance in the part was on the famed Ed Sullivan TV Show.

Hal Holbrook carried on performing as Mark Twain until his early 90s

Later, he performed the show on television and in theatres internationally, and also for former President Eisenhower and in an international tour sponsored by the US State Department.

He continued with his Twain act until his early 90s, playing on Broadway and notching up more than 2,200 performances in venues across the country.

"Mark Twain gets me out of the bed in the morning," Holbrook said in 2014.

"He literally fires me up. I don't have to fire myself up, all I have to do is lay there and think about what's going on in my country and the world and run over some of the Twain I am going to do."

Roles with gravitas

Holbrook was born in Cleveland on 17 February 1925, and his mother was a vaudeville dancer.

He first starting acting at the age 17 when he performed in the popular farce The Man Who Came to Dinner at Cleveland's Cain Park Theatre.

Hal Holbrook played a power-crazed policeman in Dirty Harry: Magnum Force

After serving in the Army in Newfoundland during World War Two, Holbrook attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

He later ventured to New York and studied with the actress Uta Hagen and in the 1950s, Holbrook acted on the CBS soap opera The Brighter Day.

He won his first Emmy in 1971 for his work on the NBC drama series The Bold Ones: The Senator and took two more trophies for playing Commander Lloyd Bucher in the 1973 TV film Pueblo, about the capture of a US spy ship by North Korea in 1968.

In recent years Hal Holbrook had roles in US TV series such as Sons of Anarchy, Rectify and the sitcom Designing Women

Holbrook's craggy voice and appearance lent itself to historical portrayals and other parts that required gravitas, such as his portrayal of US President Abraham Lincoln in the TV mini-series Lincoln, for which he also won an Emmy.

He reprised the role in the ABC miniseries North and South in 1985 and its sequel the following year.

Among many other shows, he also appeared in the West Wing, The Sopranos, Bones, Grey's Anatomy and Hawaii Five-0.

Hal Holbrook and his wife Dixie Carter

On the big screen, as well as making an impression as Deep Throat and in Into the Wild, he played a power-hungry police lieutenant in the Dirty Harry movie Magnum Force.

In Steven Spielberg's 2012 Lincoln biopic, Holbrook played presidential adviser Preston Blair. He also featured in the films The Firm, Capricorn One, The Fog, and Water for Elephants.

In 2008, aged 82, Holbrook became the oldest actor to have been nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role in Into the Wild, starring Emile Hirsch.

However, he has since been overtaken by Christopher Plummer, who won in the same category in 2018 aged 88.

In recent years he became a regular presence on US television, with roles in series including Sons of Anarchy, Rectify and the sitcom Designing Women.

Holbrook's memoir Harold: The Boy Who Became Mark Twain was published in September 2011.

He was married three times. He and third wife Dixie Carter - who also appeared in Designing Women - were married in 1984 and remained together until her death in 2010.

He is survived by his three children and two stepdaughters, as well as two grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.