Biography
Considering his late arrival to the screen, the more than 100 films and television credits amassed by actor Sir Ian Holm was all the more impressive, given the breadth and inarguable quality displayed in his body of work. Trained on the stages of London, the talented thespian was initially seen in relatively minor roles in such films as "The Bofors Gun" (1968) and "Nicholas and Alexandra" (1971). The reprisal of his Tony-winning role in the …
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Career Milestones
1954 | Made professional stage debut as a spear carrier in Royal Shakespeare Company's (then Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon) "Othello" |
1954 | Spent 14 seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in the classic Shakespearean repertory |
1955 | Toured Europe with Laurence Olivier in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus," playing Mutius |
1959 | Portrayed the Fool to Charles Laughton's "King Lear" |
1965 | Created the role of Lenny in RSC production of Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming," directed by Peter Hall |
1966 | Acted in Thames TV adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Body Snatcher" |
1967 | Broadway debut, reprising Lenny in "The Homecoming" (again directed by Hall); earned Featured Actor in a Play Tony Award |
1968 | Film acting debut, "The Bofors Gun"; earned a British Film Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor |
1968 | First American-produced film, John Frankenheimer's "The Fixer" |
1969 | First film with Hall, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (as Puck); also acted in Richard Attenborough's feature directing debut "Oh! What a Lovely War" |
1970 | Reteamed with Attenborough as actors in Dick Clement's "A Severed Head," adapted from the Iris Murdoch novel by Frederic Raphael |
1972 | Acted in Attenborough's "Young Winston" |
1973 | Reprised his role as Lenny in the film version of "The Homecoming," directed by Hall |
1974 | First film with director Richard Lester, "Juggernaut" |
1974 | Starred as the French general in Thames Television production "Napoleon and Josephine" |
1975 | American TV debut, "The Rebel" (CBS) |
1976 | Overcome with debilitating stage fright during a London preview of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh," walked off and out of show; referred to incident as "my breakdown" |
1976 | Reteamed with Lester for "Robin and Marian" |
1977 | Debut in a U.S. TV miniseries, "Jesus of Nazareth" (NBC) |
1978 | Played Nazi S.S. Chief Heinrich Himmler in acclaimed NBC miniseries "Holocaust" |
1978 | Portrayed author J.M. Barrie in the British TV drama "The Lost Boys" |
1979 | Briefly returned to the stage in Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" still overcome with stage fright; last theatrical role for 14 years |
1979 | Essayed Ash, the android member of the doomed crew in Ridley Scott's "Alien" |
1981 | First film with director Terry Gilliam, "Time Bandits" as Napoleon |
1981 | Received Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for portrayal of track coach Sam Mussabini in "Chariots of Fire," directed by Hugh Hudson |
1982 | Portrayed Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels in ABC miniseries "Inside the Third Reich" |
1984 | Cast in supporting role in Hudson's "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes," playing the Belgian explorer who discovered the half-savage Tarzan |
1985 | Portrayed Reverend Charles L Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) in "Dreamchild" |
1985 | Won praise for his performance as a venal bureaucrat in Gilliam's "Brazil" |
1989 | Played Captain Fluellen in Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V"; Branagh in his autobiography said Holm was "very much of the anything you can do I can do less of school of acting"; statement regarded as a compliment by Holm |
1990 | Portrayed Polonius in Franco Zeffirelli's "Hamlet," starring Mel Gibson |
1991 | First film with David Cronenberg, "Naked Lunch" |
1992 | Played Pod in "The Borrowers," two six-part BBC series based on the novels my Brit author Mary Norton; later aired on TNT as "The Borrowers" (1993) and "The Return of the Borrowers" (1996) |
1993 | Returned to the stage after more than a decade in Pinter's "Moonlight"; the playwright had written the role of the embittered, dying patriarch expressly for him |
1994 | Cast as Dr Willis, one of the physicians who helped cure the monarch in "The Madness of King George" |
1994 | Reteamed with Branagh for "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein"; cast as the father of Victor Frankenstein (Branagh) |
1996 | Delivered scene-stealing turn as a rival restaurateur in "Big Night"; co-written, co-directed, and co-starring Stanley Tucci |
1997 | Cast as Cameron Diaz's father in "A Life Less Ordinary" |
1997 | Earned plaudits for his work as a seedy lawyer in Atom Egoyan's film version of "The Sweet Hereafter" |
1997 | Perfected a "Noo Yawk" accent for his role as a cop in Sidney Lumet's "Night Falls on Manhattan" |
1998 | Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II |
1998 | Reprised his acclaimed turn as "King Lear" (again directed by Eyre) for TV; aired in U.S. on PBS; earned Emmy nomination but lost award to Stanley Tucci (for his performance as gossip columnist Walter Winchell) |
1998 | Starred in London stage production of "King Lear," directed by Richard Eyre |
1999 | Provided voice of Squeeler in TNT's adaptation of George Orwell's "Animal Farm," a mixture of animation and live-action |
1999 | Reteamed with Cronenberg for "eXistenZ"; cast as an eccentric scientist |
2000 | Acted with Judi Dench, Olympia Dukakis, and Leslie Caron in HBO drama "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells"; played a drummer who had dressed in drag to play with an all-female orchestra; received Emmy nomination |
2000 | Provided the voice of Pontius Pilate in the animated movie "The Miracle Maker"; aired on ABC in U.S. |
2000 | Reteamed with Tucci (who directed, co-wrote and co-starred as Mitchell) for "Joe Gould's Secret," based on the character immortalized by New Yorker writer Joe Mitchell |
2000 | Starred opposite Summer Phoenix in the Cannes-screened "Esther Kahn" |
2001 | Cast as Napoleon in "The Emperor's New Clothes" |
2001 | Had featured role in the Jack the Ripper drama "From Hell" |
2001 | Headlined London stage revival of Pinter's "The Homecoming", portraying the patriarch; also briefly played NYC as part of a tribute to the author |
2001 | Played the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's epic adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy; all three films were shot simultaneously from 1999 to 2000 for release over a three year period: "The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001); "The Two Towers" (2002); "The Return of the King" (2003) |
2004 | Acted opposite Leonardo DiCaprio's Howard Hughes in "The Aviator," directed by Martin Scorsese |
2004 | Cast as Andrew Largeman's (Zach Braff) father in "Garden State," Braff's writting and directorial debut |
2004 | Starred with Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal in "The Day After Tomorrow" |
2005 | Cast in Andrew Niccol's "Lord of War" with Nicolas Cage and Ethan Hawke |
2007 | Played an eccentric analyst in "The Treatment" |
2007 | Voiced Skinner in the Pixar animated feature "Ratatouille" |
2009 | Narrated British production "1066 The Battle for Middle Earth" (Channel 4) |
2012 | Returned to Middle Earth as Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman played young Bilbo) in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien and directed by Peter Jackson |
Awards
1967 | Tony Award for Actor, Supporting or Featured (Dramatic) |
1968 | BAFTA Award for Supporting Actor in The Bofors Gun |
1981 | Academy Award for Actor In a Supporting Role in Chariots of Fire |
1981 | BAFTA Award for Supporting Artist in Chariots of Fire |
1981 | Cannes Film Festival for International Critic's Prize by the F.I.P.R.E.S.C.I. in Chariots of Fire |
1984 | BAFTA Award for Supporting Actor in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes |
1985 | Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in Wetherby |
1995 | BAFTA Award for Actor In a Supporting Role in The Madness of King George |
1997 | Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor International in The Sweet Hereafter |
1999 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor In a Miniseries or Movie in King Lear |
2001 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie in The Last of the Blonde Bombshells |
2002 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
2004 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
2005 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in The Aviator |