Hal Holbrook death: All the President’s Men and Into the Wild star dies at 95

Actor played the famed ‘Deep Throat’ in the 1976 classic

Actor Hal Holbrook, who has died at 95 (Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

All the President’s Men actor Hal Holbrook has died at the age of 95.

The Oscar nominee, who also starred in Into the Wild, Wall Street and Lincoln, died on 23 January at his Los Angeles home, his assistant confirmed to The New York Times.

No cause of death has been released.

In All the President’s Men, Holbrook played the famed “Deep Throat”, who provides vital evidence to journalists Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) in the Watergate scandal.

In the theatre world, Holbrook was best known for his one-man show inspired by the life of Mark Twain, which he first performed while a 19-year-old college student. Later, he performed the show on television and in theatres internationally. 

The show saw Holbrook tell stories as Twain while wearing makeup to make him appear older – which he would ultimately drop as Holbrook himself aged.

“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.”

Holbrook retired from the role in 2017, when he was 91.

In 2008, Holbrook became the oldest actor to ever be nominated for an Academy Award, after earning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for Into the Wild. The record was broken seven years later by actor Robert Duvall.

Holbrook and Emile Hirsch in the 2007 film Into the Wild (River Road/Paramount/Kobal/Shutt)

Holbrook’s other film appearances included Capricorn One, Magnum Force, The Fog and Water for Elephants. In recent years he became a regular presence on American television, with roles in series including Sons of Anarchy, Rectify and the sitcom Designing Women.

He is survived by his children Victoria, David and Eve. Holbrook was formerly married to the actor Dixie Carter, who died in 2010.