Ian Holm Actor

Birth12 September 1931, Goodmayes, Essex, England, UK Death19 June 2020, London, England, UK Birth Name Ian Holm Cuthbert Height 5' 6" (1.68 m) Mini Bio Sir Ian Holm is an Academy Award-nominated British film and stage actor who was a star of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and played more than 100 roles in films and on television. He was born Ian Holm Cuthbert on September 12, 1931, in Goodmayes, Essex, UK, to Scottish parents who worked at the Essex mental asylum. His mother, Jean Wilson (Holm), was as a nurse, and his father, Doctor James Harvey Cuthbert, was a psychiatrist. Young Holm was brought up in London. At the age of seven he was inspired by the seeing 'Les Miserables' and became fond of acting. Holm studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating in 1950 to the Royal Shakespeare Company. There he emerged as an actor whose range and effortless style allowed him to play almost entire Shakespeare's repertoire. In 1959 his stage partner Laurence Olivier scored a hit on Ian Holm in a sword fight in a production of 'Coriolanus'. Holm still has a scar on his finger. In 1965 Holm made his debut on television as Richard III on the BBC's The Wars of the Roses (1965), which was a filmed theatrical production of four of Shakespeare's plays condensed down into a trilogy. In 1969 Holm won his first BAFTA Film Award Best Supporting Actor for The Bofors Gun (1968), then followed a flow of awards and nominations for his numerous works in film and on television. In 1981 Holm shot to fame with one of his best known roles, as Sam Mussabini in Chariots of Fire (1981), for which he was nominated for Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He is best known for his big action film roles, such as Father Vito Cornelius in The Fifth Element (1997), as Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), and as Professor Fitz in The Aviator (2004). Ian Holm has five children, three daughters and two sons from the first three of his five wives. In 1989 Holm was created a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), and in 1998 he was knighted for his services to drama.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Shelokhonov

Spouse (4)

Sophie de Stempel (December 2003 - present)

Penelope Wilton (1991 - 2001) (divorced)

Sophie Baker (1982 - 1986) (divorced) (1 child)

Lynn Mary Shaw (1955 - 1965) (divorced) (2 children)

Trade Mark (1)

Rich smooth voice

Trivia (28)

Children - with Lynn Mary Shaw: daughters Jessica Holm and Sarah-Jane Holm; with Sophie Baker: son Harry Holm; also had son Barnaby Holm and daughter Melissa Holm (who is now a casting director under the name of Lissy Holm) with professional photographer Bee Gilbert, with whom Holm had a relationship after his first marriage (1965-1976) but never married.

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours List and was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.

Developed a severe case of stage fright in 1976 while performing "The Iceman Cometh" and left the theatre. He has only returned three times since then.

Clearly has no objections to being buried up to his neck in the pursuit of his craft, as this has happened to him in no less than three films: Alien (1979), Brazil (1985) and Simon Magus (1999).

He was awarded the 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor of the 1997 season for his performance in "King Lear" at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe stage.

He was awarded the 1993 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in "Moonlight".

He was awarded the 1997 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best Actor for his performance in "King Lear" at the Royal National Theatre.

He was awarded the 1993 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Best Actor in "Moonlight". His wife, Penelope Wilton, was awarded Best Actress for "The Deep Blue Sea" at the same awards ceremony.

He was awarded the 1997 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in "King Lear".

Has two roles in common with Orson Bean. Bean was the voice of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit (1977), while Holm played in the Peter Jackson trilogy. Bean also played Frodo in The Return of the King (1980); Holm played Frodo on BBC radio.

An Associate Member of Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

Has played Napoleon Bonaparte three times in Napoleon and Love (1974), Time Bandits (1981) and The Emperor's New Clothes (2001) - and was a front-runner for the role in Stanley Kubrick's unproduced biography.

Won Broadway's 1967 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming", a role he recreated in the film version with the same title, The Homecoming (1973).

Has played a meteorologist in The Day After Tomorrow (2004) (as Professor Terry Rapson) and The Aviator (2004) (as Professor Fitz).

Though he has only appeared in two productions of "The Lord of the Rings", he has worked with three Aragorns. He appeared with Viggo Mortensen in the Lord of the Rings films, Robert Stephens in the radio adaptation, and worked with John Hurt in Alien (1979). Mortensen and Hurt were also both last-minute replacements for other actors.

Treated for prostate cancer in 2001.

Was slated to play Pope John Paul II in a CBS miniseries, but had to drop out because of undisclosed "personal reasons". Jon Voight took his place.

In a return to the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he first received acclaim in the mid-1960s for his contemporary stylings of "Richard III" and "Henry V", he developed a confidence-shattering case of "stage fright" during a 1976 performance of "The Iceman Cometh" and quickly withdrew from the production. His only stage appearance for almost two decades was as Astrov in "Uncle Vanya" in 1979. He finally returned to the theatre to create the role of Andy in Harold Pinter's short play "Moonlight" in 1993 for which he received the Evening Standard Award. His "King Lear" several years later earned him the Olivier Award as well as the Evening Standard and London Critic's Circle Theatre awards.

Has worked with two Frodos - Christopher Guard in Les Miserables (1978) and Elijah Wood in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Holm also played Frodo in the BBC Radio production. He has also worked with three other Bilbos: Norman Bird (from Ralph Bakshi's film) in Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) and Young Winston (1972); Martin Freeman in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013); and John Le Mesurier in the BBC Radio production.

Shares two roles with Christian Clavier. They have both played Thenardier from "Les Miserables". Thenardier calls himself "The Sergeant of Napoleon", and even gives his tavern that name. Appropriately, Holm and Clavier have both played Napoleon himself.

Has appeared with David Warner in six films: The Bofors Gun (1968), The Fixer (1968), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Holocaust (1978), S.O.S. Titanic (1979) and Time Bandits (1981).

Has supplied voice for radio announcements by New York-Presbyterian Medical Center (New York City, USA), where he had been treated for prostate cancer (2002).

His parents were Scottish.

As of 2014, has appeared in five films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Chariots of Fire (1981), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Aviator (2004). Of those, Chariots of Fire (1981) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) are winners in the category.

Hates milk. Much to his discomfort, he had to repeatedly gargle and spit it out during his final scene in Alien (1979).

Shares two roles with two other Bilbos. He and Orson Bean have both played Frodo Baggins, while he and Martin Freeman have both played King Richard III.

Along with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, he has played both Doctor Frankenstein and his Monster.

He replaced Donald Sutherland at the last minute in the lead role of The Sweet Hereafter (1997).

Personal Quotes (3)

On his Hobbit feet in the Lord of the Rings films: These things are like boats with toes.

While shooting in Mexico, all conversation was dominated by bowels. During filming, if you'll pardon the expression, you're frightened to fart.

I've always been a minimalist. It was Bogart who once said, "If you think the right thoughts, the camera will pick it up." The most important thing in the face is the eyes, and if you can make the eyes talk, you're halfway there.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000453/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Sir Ian Holm CBE (born 12 September 1931) is an English actor known for his stage work and many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear. He was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as athletics trainer Sam Mussabini in Chariots of Fire. Other well-known film roles include Ash in Alien, Father Vito Cornelius in The Fifth Element, and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film series.

Sir Ian Holm CBE (born 12 September, 1931) is an English award-winning actor known for his stage work and for many film roles, including the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the first and third films of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Father Vito Cornelius in The Fifth Element and the android Ash in Alien. Holm was born Ian Holm Cuthbert in Goodmayes, Essex, the son of "relatively elderly" Scottish parents Jean Holm (née Wilson), a nurse, and Dr. James Harvey Cuthbert, a psychiatrist who worked as the superintendent of the West Ham Corporation Mental Hospital and was also a pioneer of electric shock therapy. He had an older brother, Eric. Holm was educated at Chigwell School and then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Holm was an established star of the Royal Shakespeare Company before making an impact on television and film. In 1965, Holm played Richard III in the BBCs serialisation of the Wars of the Roses plays, based on the RSC production of the plays, and gradually made a name for himself with minor roles in films such as Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) and Young Winston (1972). In 1967, he won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, for playing the role of Lenny in The Homecoming by Harold Pinter. In 1977, Holm appeared in the TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth as the Sadducee Zerah, and in the following year played J M Barrie in the BBC TV series The Lost Boys, in which his son Barnaby played the young George Llewelyn Davies.

Holm has been married four times. In 1991 he married his third wife, popular actress Penelope Wilton, and they appeared together in The Borrowers (1993) on British television. They divorced in 2001. He is currently married to artist Sophie de Stempel, a protégé and life model of Lucian Freud. Holm has five children (three daughters and two sons) from three women, amongst others the first two of his four wives. His eldest daughter, Jessica, is presenter of the "Crufts Dog Show". Sarah-Jane Holm played Jenny Rodenhurst Simcock in A Bit of a Do. Barnaby Holm acted as a child but now lives in Los Angeles as a Hollywood club owner, while Harry Holm is a filmmaker most notable for his music videos. Melissa Holm is a casting director. He was awarded a CBE in 1990. he was made a Knight Bachelor in 1998 for Services to Drama. He was treated for prostate cancer in 2001, which currently appears to be in complete remission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Holm

Biography by Rebecca Flint Marx [-]

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 The Madness of King George (1994), which cast him as the king's unorthodox physician, Atom Egoyan's aforementioned The Sweet Hereafter (1997), and Joe Gould's Secret (1999), in which he starred in the title role of a Greenwich Village eccentric with a surprising secret. In 2000, Holm took on a role of an entirely different sort when he starred as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's long awaited adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Holm, who was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1989, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 for his "services to drama."

After the final installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy was released in 2003, Holm took a role in completely different kind of film. 2004's Garden State was a far cry from the epic, big-budget fantasy he'd just starred in and rather, was a quiet, independent film written, directed, produced by and starring the young Zach Braff. Holm's portrayal of the flawed but well-meaning father a confused adult son was a great success, and he went on to play equally complex and enjoyable supporting roles in a variety of films over the next year, from the Strangers with Candy movie to Lord of War.

In 2006, Holm signed on to lend his voice to the casts of two animated films: the innovative sci-fi noir, Renaissance, and the family feature Ratatouille--slated for release in 2006 and 2007 respectively. He also joined the cast of the controversial drama O Jerusalem, a movie about a friendship between a Jewish and Arab man during the creation of the state of Israel.

http://www.allmovie.com/artist/ian-holm-p32962