Ian Holm
Highest Rated: 100% The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Lowest Rated: 3% Bless the Child (2000)
Birthday: Sep 12, 1931
Birthplace: Goodmayes, Essex, England, UK
Popularly known as "Mr. Ubiquitous" thanks to his versatility as a stage and screen actor, Ian Holm is one of Britain's most acclaimed -- to say nothing of steadily employed -- performers. Although the foundations of his career were built on the stage, he has become an increasingly popular onscreen presence in his later years. Holm earned particular plaudits for his work in Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter (1997), in which he played an emotionally broken lawyer who comes to a small town that has been devastated by a recent school bus crash.Born on September 12, 1931, Holm came into the world in a Goodmayes, Ilford, mental asylum, where his father resided as a psychiatrist and superintendent. When he wasn't tending to the insane, Holm's father took him to the theatre, where he was first inspired, at the age of seven, by a production of Les Miserables starring Charles Laughton. The inspiration carried him through his adolescence -- which, by his account, was not a happy one -- and in 1950, Holm enrolled at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Coincidentally, while a student at RADA, he ended up acting with none other than Laughton himself.Following a year of national service, Holm joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, making his stage debut as a sword carrier in Othello. In 1956, after two years with the RSC, he debuted on the London stage in a West End production of Love Affair; that same year, he toured Europe with Laurence Olivier's production of Titus Andronicus. Holm subsequently returned to the RSC, where he stayed for the next ten years, winning a number of awards. Among the honors he received were two Evening Standard Actor of the Year Awards for his work in Henry V and The Homecoming; in 1967, he won a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway production The Homecoming.The diminutive actor (standing 5'6") made his film debut as Puck in Peter Hall's 1968 adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a production that Holm himself characterized as "a total disaster." Less disastrous was that same year's The Bofors Gun, a military drama that earned Holm a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA. He went on to appear in a steady stream of British films and television series throughout the '70s, doing memorable work in films ranging from Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) to Alien (1978), the latter of which saw him achieving a measure of celluloid immortality as Ash, the treacherous android. Holm's TV work during the decade included a 1973 production of The Homecoming and a 1978 production of Les Miserables, made a full 40 years after he first saw it staged with Charles Laughton.Holm began the '80s surrounded by a halo of acclaim garnered for his supporting role as Harold Abrahams' coach in Chariots of Fire (1981). Nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, he won both a BAFTA and Cannes Festival Award in the same category for his performance. Not content to rest on his laurels, he played Napoleon in Terry Gilliam's surreal Time Bandits that same year; he and Gilliam again collaborated on the 1985 future dystopia masterpiece Brazil. Also in 1985, Holm turned in one of his greatest -- and most overlooked -- performances of the decade as Desmond Cussen, Ruth Ellis' steadfast, unrequited admirer in Dance with a Stranger. He also continued to bring his interpretations of the Bard to the screen, providing Kenneth Branagh's Henry V (1989) with a very sympathetic Fluellen and Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990) with a resolutely meddlesome Polonius.The following decade brought with it further acclaim for Holm on both the stage and screen. On the stage -- from which he had been absent since 1976, when he suffered a bout of stage fright -- he won a number of honors, including the 1998 Olivier Award for Best Actor for his eponymous performance in King Lear; he also earned Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards for his work in the play, as well as an Emmy nomination for its television adaptation. On the screen, Holm was shown to great effect in
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
Movies
| Credit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59% | The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | Bilbo Baggins (old) | $187.8M | 2014 |
| 64% | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | Stary Bilbo Baggins Old Bilbo | $303.1M | 2012 |
| No Score Yet | Shergar | Joseph Maguire | — | 2008 |
| No Score Yet | Roald Dahl: The Making of Modern Children's Literature | Actor | — | 2008 |
| 35% | O Jerusalem | Ben Gurion | $0.3M | 2007 |
| 96% | Ratatouille | Skinner | $112.5M | 2007 |
| No Score Yet | The Miracle Maker | Pilate | — | 2007 |
| No Score Yet | The Real Middle Earth | Narrator | — | 2007 |
| 49% | Renaissance | Jonas Muller | — | 2006 |
| 68% | The Treatment | Dr. Ernesto Morales | — | 2006 |
| 61% | Lord of War | Simeon Weisz | $24.1M | 2005 |
| 31% | Chromophobia | Edward Aylesbury | — | 2005 |
| No Score Yet | The Adventures of Errol Flynn | Actor | — | 2005 |
| 52% | Strangers with Candy | Dr. Putney | $2M | 2005 |
| 86% | The Aviator | Professor Fitz | $102.6M | 2004 |
| 86% | Garden State | Dr. Gideon Largeman | $26.8M | 2004 |
| 44% | The Day After Tomorrow | Prof. Terry Rapson | $186.6M | 2004 |
| 93% | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Bilbo Baggins | $364.1M | 2003 |
| 94% | Alien: The Director's Cut | Ash | — | 2003 |
| 82% | Prisoner of Paradise | Narrator | — | 2002 |
| 73% | The Emperor's New Clothes | Napoleon Bonaparte/Eugene Lenormand | $0.5M | 2002 |
| 91% | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Bilbo | $314.1M | 2001 |
| 57% | From Hell | Sir William Gull | $30.7M | 2001 |
| 63% | Simon Magus | Sirius/Boris/The Devil | — | 2001 |
| 50% | Esther Kahn | Nathan Quellen | — | 2001 |
| No Score Yet | The Last of the Blonde Bombshells | Director Actor | — | 2000 |
| 3% | Bless the Child | Rev. Grissom | $28.2M | 2000 |
| 60% | Beautiful Joe | George the Geek | — | 2000 |
| 65% | Joe Gould's Secret | Joe Gould | — | 2000 |
| 40% | Animal Farm | Squealer | — | 1999 |
| No Score Yet | The Match | Big Tam | — | 1999 |
| 74% | Existenz | Kiri Vinokur | — | 1999 |
| 75% | Wisconsin Death Trip | Narrator | — | 1999 |
| No Score Yet | Shergar: Discover the Heart of a Champion | Actor | — | 1999 |
| No Score Yet | Alice Through the Looking Glass | White Knight | — | 1998 |
| 33% | Incognito | John | — | 1998 |
| 100% | The Sweet Hereafter | Mitchell Stephens | — | 1997 |
| 39% | A Life Less Ordinary | Naville | — | 1997 |
| 68% | Night Falls on Manhattan | Liam Casey | — | 1997 |
| 71% | The Fifth Element | Cornelius | — | 1997 |
| 96% | Big Night | Pascal | — | 1996 |
| No Score Yet | The Churchills | Actor | — | 1996 |
| No Score Yet | Loch Ness | The Water Bailiff | — | 1995 |
| 93% | The Madness of King George | Dr. Willis | — | 1994 |
| 38% | Mary Shelley's Frankenstein | Victor's Father | — | 1994 |
| 75% | The Advocate (The Hour of the Pig) | Albertus | — | 1994 |
| No Score Yet | Borrowers | Pod | — | 1994 |
| No Score Yet | Return of the Borrowers | Pod Clock | — | 1993 |
| No Score Yet | Blue Ice | Sir Hector | — | 1993 |
| No Score Yet | Elizabeth R: A Year in the Life of the Queen | Actor | — | 1992 |
| 69% | Naked Lunch | Frost | — | 1991 |
| 52% | Kafka | Murnau | — | 1991 |
| 75% | Hamlet | Polonius | — | 1990 |
| 100% | Henry V | Fluellen | — | 1989 |
| No Score Yet | Tailor of Gloucester | The Tailor | — | 1989 |
| No Score Yet | The Endless Game | Control | — | 1989 |
| 64% | Another Woman | Dr. Ken Post | — | 1988 |
| 100% | Dreamchild | Rev. Charles Dodgson | — | 1985 |
| 98% | Brazil | Kurtzmann | — | 1985 |
| No Score Yet | The Return of the Soldier | Actor | — | 1985 |
| 91% | Dance with a Stranger | Desmond Cussen | — | 1985 |
| 67% | Wetherby | Stanley Pilborough | — | 1985 |
| 73% | Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes | D'Arnot | — | 1984 |
| No Score Yet | Singleton's Pluck | Ben Singleton | — | 1984 |
| No Score Yet | Return of the Soldier | Dr. Gilbert Anderson | — | 1982 |
| No Score Yet | Inside the Third Reich | Goebbels | — | 1982 |
| 89% | Time Bandits | Napoleon | — | 1981 |
| 84% | Chariots of Fire | Sam Mussabini | — | 1981 |
| 87% | Dragonslayer | Actor | — | 1981 |
| No Score Yet | S.O.S. Titanic | J. Bruce Ismay | — | 1979 |
| 97% | Alien | Ash | — | 1979 |
| 100% | All Quiet on the Western Front | Himmelstoss | — | 1979 |
| No Score Yet | Les Miserables | Actor | — | 1978 |
| No Score Yet | The Lost Boys | Actor | — | 1978 |
| No Score Yet | The Thief of Baghdad | The Gatekeeper | — | 1978 |
| No Score Yet | March Or Die | El Krim | — | 1977 |
| No Score Yet | The Man in the Iron Mask | Duval | — | 1977 |
| 50% | Shout at the Devil | Mohammed | — | 1976 |
| 75% | Robin and Marian | King John | — | 1976 |
| No Score Yet | Juggernaut | Nicholas Porter | — | 1974 |
| No Score Yet | The Homecoming | Lenny | — | 1973 |
| 50% | Young Winston | George Buckle | — | 1972 |
| No Score Yet | Mary, Queen of Scots | David Riccio | — | 1972 |
| 67% | Nicholas and Alexandra | Yakovlev | — | 1971 |
| No Score Yet | A Severed Head | Martin Lynch-Gibbon | — | 1971 |
| 79% | Oh! What A Lovely War | President Poincare | — | 1969 |
| 57% | The Fixer | Grubeshov | — | 1968 |
| No Score Yet | The Bofors Gun | Flynn | — | 1968 |
| No Score Yet | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Puck | — | 1968 |
| No Score Yet | Cherry Orchard | Actor | — | 1962 |
TV
| Credit | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No Score Yet |
NOVA 1974 |
Voice Narrator |
2000 |
| No Score Yet |
Masterpiece 1971-2014 |
King Lear |
1998 |
| No Score Yet |
Mystery! 1980-2007 |
Samson |
1989 |
| No Score Yet |
Tales of the Unexpected 1979-1988 |
Alan Crowin | |
| No Score Yet |
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends 1992-1995 |
Voice |
QUOTES FROM Ian Holm CHARACTERS
Yakovlev says: I haven't your taste for murder, Bloody Nicholas. I've never had a chance to get used to it. How many men have you killed? Have you the least idea? God knows how many peasants died! Nobody counted children. You only know the number of soldiers because somebody counted them for you. 7 million! 6 quarts a man times 7 million! It's an ocean. Have you ever seen a battle ? You're not Bloody Nicholas! You're a man of no imagination.
Dr. Jonas Muller says: Without death, life is meaningless.
Ash says: I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies.
Ash says: I can't lie to you about your chances, but you have my sympathies.
Bilbo Baggins says: No, thank you! We don't want any more visitors, well-wishers or distant relations!
Bilbo Baggins says: No, thank you! We don't want any more visitors, well-wishers, or distant relations!
Gandalf says: And what about very old friends?
Bilbo Baggins says: Gandalf?
Gandalf says: Bilbo Baggins.
Bilbo Baggins says: My dear Gandalf!
Gandalf says: Good to see you, 111 years old! Who would believe it? You haven't aged a day.
Bilbo Baggins (old) says: Frodo, although I must admit I have told you the truth...I might not have told you all of it.
Bilbo Baggins (old) says: While I can honestly say I have told you the truth, I may not have told you all of it.
Terry Rapson says: Nothing like this has ever happened.
Bilbo Baggins says: Gandalf, my old friend, this will be a night to remember.
Ash says: You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.
Lambert says: You admire it.
Ash says: I admire its purity. A survivor... unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.
Parker says: Look, I am... I've heard enough of this, and I'm asking you to pull the plug.
Ash says: Last word.
Ellen Ripley says: What?
Ash says: I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies.
Bilbo Baggins says: I thought up an ending for my book: 'And he lived happily ever after, unto the end of his days.'
Bilbo Baggins says: I thought up an ending for my book: "And he lived happily ever after, unto the end of his days."
Bilbo Baggins says: I thought up an ending for my book: 'And he lived happily ever after, unto the end of his days.'
Bilbo Baggins says: I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
Skinner says: Remy: What... Are you eating? Emile: I don't really know. I think it was some sort of... rapper once.
Remy says: What... Are you eating?
Emile says: I don't really know. I think it was some sort of... rapper once.
Emile says: I don't really know. I think it was some sort of... Wrapper once.
Bilbo Baggins says: I think I'm quite ready for another adventure.
Jack Hall says: Professor, it's time you got out of there.
Terry Rapson says: I'm afraid that time has come and gone, my friend.
Jack Hall says: What can we do?
Terry Rapson says: Save as many as you can.
Tom Frost says: That's my mujaheddin! For gods sake!
Ash says: Ripley, for God's sake, this is the first time that we've encountered a species like this. It has to go back. All sorts of tests have to be made.
Ellen Ripley says: Ash, are you kidding? This thing bled acid. Who knows what it's gonna do when it's dead?
Ash says: I think it's safe to assume it isn't a zombie.
Ellen Ripley says: Ash can you hear me? Ash!?
Ash says: [Eyes open] Yes I can hear you.
Ellen Ripley says: What was your special order?
Ash says: You read it, I thought it was clear.
Ellen Ripley says: What was it?
Ash says: Bring back life form, priority one, all other priorities are rescinded.
Parker says: The damn Company. What about our lives you son of a bitch?
Ash says: I repeat, all other priorities are rescinded.
Ellen Ripley says: How do we kill it Ash, there's got to be a way of killing it, how, how do we do it?
Ash says: You can't.
Parker says: That's bullshit!
Ash says: You still don't understand what you're dealing with do you? Perfect organism. It's structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.
Lambert says: You admire it.
Ash says: I admire its purity. A survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.
Parker says: I've heard enough of this and i'm asking you to pull the plug.
Ash says: Last word.
Ellen Ripley says: What?
Ash says: I can't lie to you about your chances, but, you have my sympathies. [Smiles]
Ellen Ripley says: [Pulls the plug]
Skinner says: What are you doing in here?
Linguini says: I'm just familiarizing myself with, you know, the vegetables and such.
Skinner says: Get out. One can get too familiar with vegetables, you know!
Victor Cornelius says: Aziz, light!
Tom Frost says: Sexual ambulance did you say?
Tom Frost says: Sexual ambulance, did you say?
Bilbo Baggins says: No, thank you! I don't want anymore party-goers, well wishers, or distant, relations!
Gandalf says: And what about very old frineds?
Bilbo Baggins says: (Unlocks and opens his door) Gandalf?
Ash says: You know, I've got an explanation for this.
Ash says: There is an explanation for this, you know.
Ash says: I admire its purity. A survivor. Unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality
Ash says: I admire its purity. A survivor. Unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.
Ash says: I admire it's purity. A survivor. Unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.
Bilbo Baggins says: I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
Terry Rapson says: Are you mad? That's a 12-year-old scotch!
Mitchell Stephens says: Something's happening that's taking our children away.
Mitchell Stephens says: Well, enough rage and helplessness and your love turns to something else.