IAN HOLM
September 12, 1931 – June 19, 2020
Goodmayes, United Kingdom
88 years old
“It’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no telling where you might be swept off to.”
— Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) from “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”
Anyone interested in science fiction or fantasy knew the name Ian Holm. In sci-fi, he surprised with his role as Ash in “Alien,” shocking me on my first viewing, as well as playing comedic in “The Fifth Element.” In fantasy, he was iconic as the older version of Bilbo Baggins in “The Lord of the Rings” series and part of “The Hobbit” series as well. He was even nominated for an Academy Award with his supporting role in the Best Picture winner “Chariots of Fire.” He leaves behind, not just that cinematic legacy, but a wife and five children. He is gone, but never forgotten.
FAVORITE PERFORMANCE
LAST PERFORMANCE SEEN
BEST VOICE PERFORMANCE
BIGGEST AWARD WIN
IAN HOLM’S ACADEMY AWARDS
| 1982 | 54th Academy Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | “Chariots of Fire” | Nominated |
IAN HOLM’S FILMOGRAPHY
| 1958 | Girls at Sea | n/a |
| 1968 | The Bofors Gun | Flynn |
| 1968 | The Fixer | Grubeshov |
| 1968 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Puck |
| 1969 | Oh! What a Lovely War | President Raymond Poincaré |
| 1971 | A Severed Head | Martin Lynch-Gibbon |
| 1971 | Nicholas and Alexandra | Yakovlev |
| 1971 | Mary, Queen of Scots | David Riccio |
| 1972 | Young Winston | George Buckle |
| 1973 | The Homecoming | Lenny |
| 1974 | Juggernaut | Nicholas Porter |
| 1976 | Robin and Marian | King John |
| 1976 | Shout at the Devil | Mohammed |
| 1977 | March or Die | El Krim |
| 1979 | Alien | Ash |
| 1981 | Chariots of Fire | Sam Mussabini |
| 1981 | Time Bandits | Napoleon |
| 1982 | The Return of the Soldier | Doctor Anderson |
| 1984 | Greystoke | Capitaine Phillippe D’Arnot |
| 1984 | Singleton’s Pluck | Ben Singleton |
| 1985 | Brazil | Mr. Kurtzmann |
| 1985 | Wetherby | Stanley Pilborough |
| 1985 | Dance with a Stranger | Desmond Cussen |
| 1985 | Dreamchild | Reverend Charles L. Dodgson / Lewis Carroll |
| 1988 | Another Woman | Ken |
| 1989 | Henry V | Captain Fluellen |
| 1990 | Hamlet | Polonius |
| 1991 | Kafka | Doctor Murnau |
| 1991 | Naked Lunch | Tom Frost |
| 1992 | Blue Ice | Sir Hector |
| 1993 | The Advocate | Albertus |
| 1994 | Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein | Victor’s Father |
| 1994 | The Madness of King George | Willis |
| 1996 | Big Night | Pascal |
| 1996 | Loch Ness | Water Bailiff |
| 1996 | Night Falls on Manhattan | Liam Casey |
| 1997 | The Fifth Element | Cornelius |
| 1997 | The Sweet Hereafter | Mitchell |
| 1997 | A Life Less Ordinary | Naville |
| 1997 | Incognito | John |
| 1998 | Frog (Short) | n/a |
| 1999 | eXistenZ | Kiri Vinokur |
| 1999 | Simon Magus | Sirius / Boris / Head |
| 1999 | Shergar | Joseph Maguire |
| 1999 | The Match | Big Tam |
| 1999 | Wisconsin Death Trip | Narrator (voice) |
| 1999 | Gooseberries Don’t Dance (Short) | n/a |
| 2000 | Joe Gould’s Secret | Joe Gould |
| 2000 | The Miracle Maker | Pontius Pilate (voice) |
| 2000 | Esther Kahn | Nathan Quellen |
| 2000 | Beautiful Joe | George The Geek |
| 2000 | Bless the Child | Reverend Grissom |
| 2000 | Field of Fish (Short) | Narrator / Old Tom Maynard |
| 2001 | The Emperor’s New Clothes | Napoleon Bonaparte / Sergeant Eugene Lenormand |
| 2001 | From Hell | Sir William Gull |
| 2001 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Bilbo |
| 2002 | Spinning Wheels (Short) | Hood thief |
| 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Bilbo |
| 2004 | Garden State | Gideon Largeman |
| 2004 | The Day After Tomorrow | Terry Rapson |
| 2004 | The Aviator | Professor Fitz |
| 2005 | Strangers with Candy | Dr. Putney |
| 2005 | Chromophobia | Edward Aylesbury |
| 2005 | Lord of War | Simeon Weisz |
| 2006 | Renaissance | Jonas Muller (voice) |
| 2006 | The Treatment | Dr. Ernesto Morales |
| 2006 | O Jerusalem | Ben Gurion |
| 2007 | Ratatouille | Skinner (voice) |
| 2012 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | Old Bilbo |
| 2014 | The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | Old Bilbo |
IAN HOLM‘S TELEVISION SERIES
| 1957 | ITV Play of the Week | Granillo | 2 Episodes |
| 1957 | Robert’s Wife | Bob | Television movie |
| 1959 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Puck | Television movie |
| 1961 | Theatre Night | The King | Episode: “Ondine” |
| 1962 | The Cherry Orchard | Piotr Sergeyevich Trofimov | Television movie |
| 1963-1970 | Armchair Theatre | Reverend P. Bagley / Edward Gobey / Jamie Norton | 3 Episodes |
| 1965-1970 | The Wars of the Roses | Richard | 5 Episodes |
| 1966 | The Power Game | Sefton Kemp | 4 Episodes |
| 1966-1968 | Mystery and Imagination | Frankenstein / The Being / MacFarlane | 2 Episodes |
| 1969-1970 | ITV Sunday Night Theatre | Walter Bardell / Salesman / David Peters | 3 Episodes |
| 1969-1971 | ITV Playhouse | Huw / Omri | 2 Episodes |
| 1970 | The Wednesday Play | Mark Lang | Episode: “Emma’s Time” |
| 1971 | Review | Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky | TV series documentary |
| 1972 | The Man from Haven | Jack Byron Lever | Episode: “#1.1” |
| 1972 | The Frighteners | Gordon | Episode: “The Treat” |
| 1972-1974 | BBC Play of the Month | Khrushchov / Oedipus | 2 Episodes |
| 1973 | Conjugal Rights | Michael | 3 Episodes |
| 1974 | Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries | Charles Stubbs | Episode: “Trial for Murder” |
| 1974 | Masquerade | Blake | Episode: “May We Come In?” |
| 1974 | Napoleon and Love | Napoleon | 9 Episodes |
| 1974-1975 | The Lives of Benjamin Franklin | Wedderburn | 3 Episodes |
| 1975 | Private Affairs | David Garrick | Episode: “Mr. Garrick and Mrs. Woffington” |
| 1977 | The Man in the Iron Mask | Duval | Television movie |
| 1977 | Jesus of Nazareth | Zerah | 2 Episodes |
| 1977 | Jubilee | Bill Ramsey | Episode: “Bill Ramsey” |
| 1978 | BBC2 Play of the Week | The Man | Episode: “Flayed” |
| 1978 | Holocaust | Heinrich Himmler | 2 Episodes |
| 1978 | Do You Remember? | Walter Street | Episode: “Night School” |
| 1978 | The Lost Boys | J.M. Barrie | 3 Episodes |
| 1978 | The Thief of Baghdad | The Gatekeeper | Television movie |
| 1978 | Les Miserables | Thenardier | Television movie |
| 1979 | S.O.S. Titanic | J. Bruce Ismay | Television movie |
| 1979 | All Quiet on the Western Front | Himmelstoss | Television movie |
| 1980 | Festival: The Misanthrope | Alceste | Television movie |
| 1980 | We, the Accused | Paul Pressett | 5 Episodes |
| 1981 | Omnibus | Reader | Episode: “Landseer: A Victorian Comedy” |
| 1981 | Strike: The Birth of Solidarity | Lech Walesa | Television movie |
| 1982 | The Bell | Michael Meade | 4 Episodes |
| 1982 | Inside the Third Reich | Dr. Joseph Goebbels | Television movie |
| 1982 | Tales of the Unexpected | Alan Corwin | Episode: “Death Can Add” |
| 1982 | Play for Today | Alexei | Episode: “Soft Targets” |
| 1985 | Star Quality: Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill | Eustace Edgehill | Television movie |
| 1985 | The Browning Version | Andrew Crocker-Harris | Television movie |
| 1986 | Artists and Models | (voice) | Episode: “Slaves of Fashion” |
| 1987 | Murder by the Book | Hercule Poirot | Television movie |
| 1988 | Game, Set, and Match | Bernard Samson | 13 Episodes |
| 1989 | The Endless Game | Control | 2 Episodes |
| 1989 | The Tailor of Gloucester | The Tailor | Television movie |
| 1990 | A Season of Giants | Lorenzo De Medici | Television movie |
| 1991-1998 | Performance | Lear / Duff / Sir William Collyer | 4 Episodes |
| 1992 | Screen Two | F.R. Leavis | Episode: “The Last Romantics” |
| 1992 | The Borrowers | Pod | 6 Episodes |
| 1992 | Chillers | Christopher Waggoner | Episode: “The Stuff of Madness” |
| 1993 | The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends | The Tailor (voice) | Episode: “The Tailor of Gloucester” |
| 1993 | The Return of the Borrowers | Pod | 6 Episodes |
| 1995 | Little Red Riding Hood | Don Mini the Narrator | Television movie |
| 1998 | Alice Through the Looking Glass | White Knight | Television movie |
| 1999 | Animal Farm | Squealer (voice) | Television movie |
| 2000 | The Holocaust on Trial | Narrator (voice) | TV movie documentary |
| 2000 | The Last of the Blonde Bombshells | Patrick | Television movie |
| 2002 | Waterbaby | God (voice) | Television movie |
| 2002 | The New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science | Narrator | Episode: “Murder for Hire” |
| 2004 | Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real | Narrator | Television movie |
| 2009 | 1066: The Battle for Middle Earth | Storyteller | 2 Episodes |
