A Classic Clip from Hal Holbrook's 1967 "Mark Twain Tonight"

An amazing and highly amusing tidbit from Holbrook's landmark TV special. Might this have been even somewhat what it was like to witness the master at work?

Hal Holbrook's Amazing Legacy

A profile of acclaimed actor and Twain impersonator Hal Holbrook today in the Knoxville News makes the very amusing observation that Holbrook has actually portrayed Mark Twain for a longer period of time than Samuel Clemens himself used the pen name of Mark Twain.

Specifically, Holbrook has played Twain for 55 years, since his first 1954 performance at Pennsylvania's Lock Haven State Teachers College. Clemens only used the Twain pen name for the last 47 years of his life.

Hal Holbrook's Life as Twain

Of all those actors who have taken on the mantle of Mark Twain, Hal Holbrook is the most iconic and the most renowned. He's been doing his "Mark Twain Tonight!" one-man show since 1954--when he was 29! And Holbrook is still going strong today, and is in fact on tour at the moment playing Mr. Clemens to the delight of viewers and critics--now at age 83.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat published a feature on Holbrook and his show last Thursday that's well-worth checking out.