Ian Holm / 1931-2000

Ian Holm
Alien, 1979

Ian Holm

1931-2000

a life and career in pictures

Ian Holm was born on 12 September 1931 in Goodmayes, Essex. He graduated from Rada in 1953 and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1960. Here he is with two other young RSC actors Ian Richardson and David Warner at Stratford-upon-Avon on 15 December 1963

The Homecoming, 1966

His performance in the RSC production of Harold Pinter’s play at the Aldwych theatre in London (here with Vivien Merchant) won him the Tony award for best featured aActor in a play in 1967

Richard III, 1966

His performances for the RSC led to him being offered the role of Richard III in the BBC’s The War of the Roses, and his screen career began

Romeo And Juliet, 1967

Onstage with Estelle Kohler in the RSC production at Stratford-upon-Avon

The Bofors Gun, 1968

Holm’s film debut won him the Bafta award for best supporting actor. Pictured here with David Warner and Donald Gee

Ian Holm with his Bafta award for The Bofors Gun with Lord Mountbatten and Billie Whitelaw, who won best supporting actress for Twisted Nerve and Charlie Bubbles

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1968

Ian Richardson as Oberon and Ian Holm as Puck

The Lost Boys, 1978

Holm was nominated for the best actor Bafta TV Award for his portrayal of JM Barrie

Alien, 1979

Tom Skerritt as Dallas and Ian Holm as the treacherous android Ash attempt to remove a facehugger from John Hurt’s Kane

Chariots of Fire, 1980

Holm was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Bafta for best supporting actor for his role as coach Sam Mussabini, seen here training athlete Harold Abrahams, played by Ben Cross

Time Bandits, 1981

Holm played Napoleon three times in his career

Lord of the Rings, 1981

Michael Hordern as Gandalf, John Le Mesurier as Bilbo and Ian Holm as Frodo in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of JRR Tolkien’s novels

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, 1984

Holm was nominated for the best supporting actor Bafta award for his portrayal of Capitaine Phillippe D’Arnot, seen here alongside Christopher Lambert’s John Clayton/Tarzan

Dance with a Stranger, 1985

Miranda Richardson and Ian Holm in the story of Ruth Ellis

Game Set and Match, 1988

Holm played Bernard Samson, alongside Amanda Donohoe’s Gloria Kent in this TV adaptation of Len Deighton’s spy novel series. Holm was nominated for the Best Actor Bafta TV award

Henry V, 1989

Ian Holm as Captain Fluellen and Kenneth Branagh as the king

Moonlight, 1993

Holm, pictured with co-star Anna Massey, won the Evening Standard award and the Critics’ Circle theatre award for best actor in the play by Pinter at the Almeida theatre, London

The Madness of King George, 1994

Nominated for the Bafta award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role as Dr. Willis

The Fifth Element, 1997

Holm played Father Vito Cornelius in the Luc Besson sci-fi epic, which starred Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich.

Ian Holm and his then wife, Penelope Wilton, outside Buckingham Palace on 8 December 1998, after receiving a knighthood for services to drama. Holm was married four times and had five children

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001

Elijah Wood as Frodo and Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins

The Aviator, 2004

Ian Holm as Professor Fitz, Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes and Matt Ross as Glenn Odekir

Photograph: Andrew Cooper

Ratatouille, 2007

The character Skinner was voiced by Holm

Ian Holm in London in 2003

Photograph: Tom Pilston