‘A great spirit gone’: Actor Ian Holm dies
Holm had roles in ‘Chariots of Fire’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’
LONDON — Ian Holm, a versatile British actor whose career included roles in “Chariots of Fire” and “The Lord of the Rings” has died. He was 88.
Holm died peacefully Friday in a hospital, surrounded by his family and carer, his agent Alex Irwin said in a statement. His illness was Parkinson’s-related.
“Charming, kind and ferociously talented, we will miss him hugely,” Irwin said.
Holm appeared in scores of movies big and small, from costume dramas to fantasy epics. A generation of moviegoers knows him as Bilbo Baggins in “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies. He won a British Academy Film Award and a supporting actor Oscar nomination for por- traying pioneering athletics coach Sam Mussabini in the 1982 film “Chariots of Fire.”
His other movie roles included Father Cornelius in “The Fifth Element,” android Ash in “Alien,’’ a smoothtalking lawyer in “The Sweet Hereafter,’’ Napoleon Bonaparte in “Time Bandits,’’ writer Lewis Carroll in ”Dreamchild” and a royal physician in “The Madness of King George.’’
He was also a charismatic theater actor who won a Tony Award for best featured actor as Lenny in Harold Pinter’s play “The Homecoming” in 1967.
He was a longtime member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, though a bout of debilitating stage fright that struck during a production of “The Iceman Cometh” in 1976 kept him off the stage for many years.
He returned to live performance and won a 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for best actor for his performance in the title role of “King Lear” at the National Theatre. Holm was knighted in 1998 for his services to drama.
Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Gregory Doran called Holm “one of the RSC greats”
“Ian was entirely original … ,” Doran said. “He had a simmering cool … a rare and magnificent talent. There’s a great spirit gone.”