Originally Posted by Don Marco
Hal Holbrook passed away. I remember him playing Lincoln a long time ago but the articles talk about him portraying Mark Twain.


Hal Holbrook was unique in that he performed his one-man show Mark Twain Tonight! for over sixty years, on and off. It was made into a TV special on CBS back in 1967 and you can find it on YouTube. He finally retired it when he was 92. In the beginning, back in the late 1950's he was in his early 30's and used to spend three hours painting his face to appear to be Twain at 70. Over time, he used less and less makeup until he eventually used just a false nose along with a moustache and eyebrows. His own white hair took the place of the wig and he certainly didn't need the age paint anymore.

I am (or was) a theatrical makeup artist and I've been teaching makeup at college level for over 40 years. One of my lessons uses Holbrook's Twain makeup as an example of how to create the illusion of aging on a young performer for live theatre. I've written quite an interesting paper on this, if I may be allowed a bit of immodesty.


Signor V.

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"When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?"

"It was a grass harp... And we listened."

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