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May 9, 2010

B-Sides: Soldiering on as Twain, Hal Holbrook fondly remembers late wife

Mark Bennett The Tribune-Star The Tribune Star Sun May 09, 2010, 12:44 AM EDT

TERRE HAUTE — The tone of Hal Holbrook’s voice softened as the conversation turned from politics to Dixie Carter, his late wife.

He spoke by telephone from the mountains of Santa Monica, Calif., where he was preparing to dutifully deliver another performance of his acclaimed one-man show “Mark Twain Tonight!” The 85-year-old Oscar nominee has portrayed Twain more than 2,200 times since 1954. Resuming that schedule after his wife passed away April 10 at age 70 following a 21⁄2-year battle with cancer has not been easy for Holbrook. But he has no doubt that Carter would want his show to go on. That tour includes a performance Saturday in Hatfield Hall Theater on the Rose-Hulman campus.

After a lively discussion of Wall Street, Congress, the economy and Twain in a nearly one-hour interview, Holbrook focused on Carter.

In quiet, elegant tones, Holbrook described the personable style, unwavering faith and resilient spirit of Carter, a veteran actress and singer best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the 1980s and ’90s TV sitcom “Designing Women.” She was the mother of two daughters. A “Southern girl,” as he put it.

Raised in Tennessee with respect for her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. An English major in college. A lifelong Republican.

Holbrook’s wife for the past 25 years.

“She was bright and smart — smarter than I am. She had a much better mind than I did,” he said. “And she had a very clear, firm belief in certain basic things. She had a very strong belief in God and in the Christian religion, and it wasn’t phony. I can smell phoniness in this area very easy; I’ve been doing Twain too long. But with Dixie, it was real, absolutely real. And everybody who knew her respected it.”

That includes their guests in Hollywood.

“She was not ashamed to have us say grace at the dinner table when we had a big party with a lot of people from this town, Hollywood,” Holbrook explained. “Never reluctant to say grace. And they respected it.”

Carter’s genuine character impressed people of different beliefs in the hub of America’s movie industry.

“These are people who, politically, a lot of them would disagree with Dixie. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter,” Holbrook said. “What was important in [her] life — kindness, understanding, love, basic intelligence, decency, good behavior — these were all things that everybody can respect if they take the time.”

Sometimes, Holbrook disagreed with Carter on political issues. He’s a registered independent, who’s voted for Democrats and Republicans, including — much to his regret now — George W. Bush for president in 2000. By contrast, Carter was raised a Republican. “If you were born into a family that was Republican or Democrat in the South, that’s the way you’re going to be,” Holbrook said, “and my wife was a Republican. I respected her terrifically.”

She often joined Holbrook in one of his hobbies, sailing, which took them to the South Pacific, Tahiti, Samoa, the Tongas, New Zealand and Fiji, according to his official bio. In their careers, Carter and Holbrook paired up occasionally on “Designing Women,” where he played a recurring role as her suitor, widowed attorney Reese Watson. They met while making the movie “The Killing of Randy Webster” in 1981 after each had been divorced twice. They married in 1984.

During Carter’s struggle with cancer the past couple years, her strength was apparent, Holbrook said.

“You wouldn’t be able to believe your eyes if you saw what a fighter [she was],” he said.

As her health weakened, Holbrook scratched some “Mark Twain Tonight!” performances to stay by her side. Her passing, he said, will take him “a long time to understand … why someone so devout, true believer, performed in life in such a beautiful way, so kind and understanding to people, took time to listen to people, led a decent life, a fine life, why that’s taken away — I’m having a lot of trouble understanding it.” He loved her “more than any human being I ever dreamed I could love.”

He’s beginning to make up those postponed shows. His schedule is full. When asked if staying busy on stage has helped him following his wife’s passing, Holbrook said Tuesday, “Yes and no. Yes, it was for the first few shows, but the last show was tough.”

Carter would want him to fulfill his obligations “because Dixie was a fighter,” Holbrook said. “She was a champion.”

His admiration for her was obvious as Holbrook discussed their travel routine. On their journeys together, Holbrook preferred getting from Point A to Point B quickly. Interruptions aren’t his thing. “I tend to be a little grumpy,” he confessed. His wife hurried less.

“Well, she would stop in the corridors of the terminals,” Holbrook said, laughing. “I mean, anybody that stopped her, she’d stop and talk to them, and she’d know their grandfather and mother. And I’m champing at the bit. But she would spend so much time, giving her time to everybody.

“It was amazing,” he added, “just amazing.”



Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.

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