Not to take anything away from Daniel Day-Lewis and Steven 
Spielberg, but Hal's portrayal of Lincoln is quite the achievement. 
Produced by David L. Wolper ("Roots") and first aired as the miniseries 
"Sandburg's Lincoln" in 1975, the six-part production followed Lincoln 
from young lawyer through the White House years. Each hour was given its 
own title: "Crossing Fox River," "Mrs. Lincoln's Husband," "Prairie 
Lawyer," "Sad Figure, Laughing," "The Unwilling Warrior," "The Last Days."
      Sada Thompson played Mary Todd Lincoln, and Robert Foxworth, who 
many years later co-starred with Hal in an excellent regional theater 
production of "Uncle Vanya," played Maj. John Stuart. One of the 
episodes was written by playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, 
authors of "Inherit the Wind," "Mame" and "The Night Thoreau Spent in 
Jail." Stripped of commercials, the entire production runs four hours 
and 58 minutes. Hal has five Emmys, and not one of them is for playing 
Mark Twain. But one of them is for this remarkable portrayal of Lincoln.
     The miniseries was released in 2011 as a two-DVD set by Mill Creek 
Entertainment, and it can be found for as low as $5. I think Amazon has 
it listed for about that.
      In the mid-'80s, Hal again played Lincoln for the two "North and 
South" miniseries. So his presence as Preston Blair in the Spielberg 
"Lincoln" is a nice touch in so many ways.
      I've not yet caught up with the "Omnibus" TV production "Mr. 
Lincoln" from 1952, written by no less than James Agee (and also 
available on DVD), but Royal Dano's performance has been said to rank 
with the very finest Lincolns. Bringing this full circle, Dano played 
Mark Twain in the 1975 TV movie "Huckleberry Finn," which featured Ron 
Howard in the title role and our old friend Bill Erwin as Harvey Wilkes.

On 1/7/2013 1:54 PM, James Edstrom wrote:
> Hal Holbrook also appeared as Lincoln in a 1965 Encyclopaedia Britannica
> film titled "The Great Debate: Lincoln versus Douglas." I still use it
> in my U.S. and Illinois history classes; our college library received
> permission to copy the film to VHS and DVD.
>
> Jim Edstrom
>
> <-----Original Message----->
>> From: Larry Howe [[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: 1/7/2013 12:36:45 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: HH and Lincoln
>>
>> Amazon's got the Holbrook Lincoln film and the Watterston film (with =
>> MTMoore as MTLincoln) each for around 6 bucks.=20
>>
>> --LH
>>
>> On Jan 7, 2013, at 12:26 PM, Harold Bush wrote:
>>
>>> James Cornelius, curator at the Lincoln Library, mentioned to me that
> =
>> one
>>> of his favorite Lincoln films was on TV, with Hal Holbrook!!
>>> =20
>>> so our legendary Twain actor also did Lincoln -- HH as both the =
>> Lincoln of
>>> our literature and the Mark Twain of our politics!! I wonder if that
>>> version -- with Mary Tyler Moore -- is available out there
> somewhere??
>>> =20
>>> I'm a little surprised about the Holbrook mention, thanks for that. =
>> take a
>>> look at this:
>>> =20
>>> just for fun; of all places, here is a listing of the top 10 Lincoln
> =
>> films,
>>> which oddly, appeared at AARP (maybe old timers like Honest Abe??): =
>> it
>>> includes the Holbrook version:
>>> =20
>>> =
>> http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/movies-for-grownups/info-11-2012/abra
> ham=
>> -lincolns-in-hollywood-photos.html#slide10
>>> =20
>>> --=20
>>> Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
>>> Professor of English
>>> Saint Louis University
>>> St. Louis, MO 63108
>>> 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
>>> <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>
>> .