ABC Plans Four-Hour Program on Lincoln

The technique of having actors read letters, diaries and other personal writings to bring history to life, used so effectively in PBS’ “Civil War,” will be utilized again in “Lincoln,” a four-hour documentary that ABC plans to broadcast Dec. 26-27.

Jason Robards will be heard as the voice of President Abraham Lincoln, with Glenn Close as his wife, Rod Steiger as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Richard Dreyfuss as Gen. William T. Sherman, Ossie Davis as Frederick Douglass and Frank Langella as John Wilkes Booth.