Feb 17: Hal Holbrook & Rene Russo

[Jim Eshelman]

Hal Holbrook, February 17, 1925, 3:16 AM EST, Cleveland, OH (AA data)
Rene Russo, February 17, 1954, 6:12 AM PST, Los Angeles, CA (AA data)

[Avshalom Binyamin]

Hal Holbrook

Unaspected, background sun. Covert narcissism? Slightly angular scorpio moon, sextile to Venus--attractive, and cared very about being liked. But Saturn squares Venus, Neptune is opposite Mercury, and Mercury and Venus are conjunct. So I think he was a charming ladies man who never was able to find romantic happiness.

(I have seen him in movies, but didn't know him by name). Married 3 times.

Rene Ruso

Angular Mars, square to a Venus-Sun conjunction. Sun opposite Moon, and Pluto. Jupiter-Mercury square. I would expect a driven, passionate person who carved their own path, and probably climbed up from humble beginnings.

(I know who she is, but didn't know her personal life or pre-actor career).

Her dad was a car mechanic/sculptor who abandoned her, her mom was a bartender/factory worker. She was tall and had scoliosis, but made it as a model, and then was able to make it into acting.

[Jim Eshelman]

An idle remark in passing, given your mention of Rene Russo's scoliosis: One more Leo Moon with a seriously bad back. (It's extremely common.)

[Jim Eshelman]

Hal Holbrook will, to me, ever be the embodiment of Mark Twain. His one-man, Tony-winninng show portraying the great writer is a masterpiece of biographical theater and character creation. He is also famously the voice of Deep Throat in All the President's Men. In three different TV mini-series he played Abraham Lincoln. (I suspect his Scorpio Moon aided in the easy picking up and reflecting the character and mannerisms of Sun in Scorpio Mark Twain.)

Holbrook is a great, celebrated actor, considered one of the greatest character craftsmen of his age, with over a hundred TV and film roles and innumerable stage roles.

He was abandoned in infancy by his parents and raised by grandparents, attending Culver Military Academy (about 25 miles from where I grew up). His three marriages have been in excess of 20 years each, the third lasting 35 years thus far.


Breaking down his chart, the primary constellations are Aquarius (which has Sun and two planets) and Scorpio (which has the rising Moon). That is, both luminaries are debilited, even though four outer planets are dignified (Saturn exalted to the degree). - I do not see his Sun-sign much; it is probably buried in private traits. He does have ingenuity - probably genius, in fact - and the Aquarius-Sagittarius luminaries paint him as a humanist and perhaps even humanitarian: His politics are independent and socially liberal while he persists in being a defender of great cultural institutions.

His two angular planets are Pluto square MC 1°46' and Uranus square Asc 2°00'. I would have expected for an actor of this type that his Jupiter would be foreground (it falls a little shy of that, but I won't question the accuracy of the carefully recorded birth time). The angular planets make him a rebel by nature, and probably reinforce the genius and "break new ground"spirit of the Aquarius Sun.

Avshalom Binyamin caught that Sun is background and unaspected (in the technical meaning of the word "unaspected" - it does, though, have an exact semi-square to Jupiter). This generally means that the person is quite an individual, going his own way, a singularly distinctive sort who also does not have the core of his being encumbered much by the other faculties of his psyche. He stands out from others and attention naturally spirals around him.

I think the most important aspects - most easily seen on the 90° dial - are the Jupiter-Pluto opposition (Pluto is angular, remember) and Saturn's square to Mercury conjunct Venus. Taking the first of these, since Pluto is angular we can call this a very well-aspected angular Pluto. I think he likely fits the description of "needing to be authentically himself, a little eccentric or outrageous, won’t melt into the conventional collective, singularly unique in his context and on his own path."

For the close Jupiter-Pluto opposition, we can just take the standard interpretation: Thrives when being controversial within his (social or political) circles, strong desire to contribute, feels unbound by precedent, unapologetic genuineness + commitment to community. There is an ambition in this aspect that likely drove him, a hunger to “be something” seen, accepted, and affirmed by others.

As for the second major aspect group, Mercury conjunct Venus gives him gracious expression, charm, and a smoothness of language. I don't know how his childhood really went: The abandonment by his mother may not actually have affected him if the grandparents didn't let it (I simply don't know), but Mercury conjunct Venus usually means a retaining of the lightness of childhood and a playful spirit or "charm of immaturity" that I think I see in his work.

Saturn squares these, though. Without knowing anything about him in advance, one might expect some blocks, perhaps more "interruptions" in that childhood sense. However, I think these have served him well (or, rather, he has made unusually good use of them). Mercury-Saturn usually gives a disciplined, astute mind able to concentrate. Venus-Saturn could indeed mean loss in love or difficulty finding love, but - with three marriages over 20 years each - I think, rather, it shows devotion and endurance, a wish to be settled and sure in marriage.

[Jupiter Sets at Dawn]

I last saw it at the Clemens Center on Clemen's 175th birthday in 2010.
Of course with that material, it would be hard to go wrong, but Holbrook's interpretation was masterful.

[Jim Eshelman]

Another model and a gifted actress, Rene Russo was born one day after Margaux Hemingway. The two charts have much in common, but also some acute differences: Moon is now in Leo, not Cancer. Instead of Neptune and Saturn foreground, there are planets of strength, vitality, energy, and charisma.

Interestingly, when her chart is relocated to New York City where she started her modelling career, her angles become essentially those of Hemingway - Neptune exactly setting. She described NYC as basically "a scary place."

Breaking down the chart, lumninaries are in Aquarius-Leo, enhanced by their connection to Mars in Scorpio at MC. Angular planets include Venus exactly square MC, Sun rising but even closer to EP, Moon 2° above Dsc, Mars 1° off MC. Primary aspects include the culminating Mars closely square Venus and in mundane squares to the Moon-Sun opposition (Full Moon) across the horizon. She has other aspectswe saw for Hemingway, including an exact Mars-Uranus sesqui-square and Mercury-Jupiter square. Moon closely conjoins Pluto, but Pluto is not foreground

All of these are marks of strength. She could have succeeded in many fields. She is a double Hub with Mars, at home in Scorpio, 1° from MC, a strong Full Moon across the horizon, and the two aspects - Moon-Sun and Venus-Mars - that exude sexual energy and wrap a figure in charisma.

Do not miss that Moon is in Leo. She has always had dignity, status, stature in her roles - and, of course, never so much as when playing Frigga, Queen of the Gods and wife of Odin in the Thor movies. Her other best known works are action films, explosive, fast-paced, consistent with Mars in Scorpio on MC.

Pulling back to the beginning: As a double Hub, she has an innate gravitas, and tends to be a center about which others rotate. As an Aquarius-Leo, I see the Leo most in her work and am unclear about the Aquarius elements (except for a bipolar disorder - Aquarians can be vulnerable to such things - mnore on this later). Perhaps there is a wider "willing to break out" streak that is Aquarian - not sure.

The angular planets (Mars on MC square Venus, also tied to Moon-Sun across horizon) speak to power in general and sexual force = charisma in particular. She has all the astrological features both for her early modelling career and for later ambitions. She does not have the simple marks of an actor (e.g., angular Jupiter): Her chart is more that of an executive or warrior (and her best known roles have all been Mars roles).