Ian Holm
☼ Born on 12 December 1931, in Goodmayes, Essex, England, UK
† Died on 19 December 2020, in London, England, UK, cause Parkinson's disease
Biography
Sir Ian Holm was one of the world's greatest actors, a Laurence Olivier Award-winning, Tony Award-winning, BAFTA-winning and Academy Award-nominated British star of films and the stage. He was a member of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company and has played more than 100 roles in films and on television.
He was born Ian Holm Cuthbert on September 12, 1931, in Goodmayes, Essex, to Scottish parents who worked at the Essex mental asylum. His mother, Jean Wilson (née Holm), was 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 had 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, he played one of his bes
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t known roles, Sam Mussabini in Chariots of Fire (1981), for which he was nominated for Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In the late 1990s, he gave a highly-acclaimed turn as the lawyer, Mitchell, in Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter (1997), and was subsequently cast in a number of high-profile Hollywood films of the next decade, playing Father Vito Cornelius in The Fifth Element (1997), Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), and Professor Fitz in The Aviator (2004), as well as Zach Braff's character's father Gideon in Garden State (2004). His last non-Hobbit film role was a voice part as Skinner in Ratatouille (2007).
Ian Holm had five children, three daughters and two sons from the first two of his four wives and from an additional relationship. In 1989 Holm was created a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), and in 1998 he was knighted for his services to drama. He died in London in June 2020.
In the role of actor
Mr. Kneff (30th Anniversary Kafka Re-edit) (18/09/2021)
One of the special events of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival was a screening of a “Surprise New Film” by director Steven Soderbergh. As many predicted beforehand, this “new” film ended up being a re-edited version of Soderbergh’s 1991 sophomore film Kafka, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and is a film […]
Blindspot 2017: Canada 150: The Sweet Hereafter (24/01/2017)
It is time for me to kick off the 2017 edition of the Blindspot Series, where I will watch films from Canada’s top filmmakers in celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary. First up is Atom Egoyan’s award winning 1997 drama The Sweet Hereafter. A small town is reeling after a tragic school bus accident that […]
Blindspot 2015: 40 Years of TIFF: Chariots of Fire (31/03/2015)
In 1981 a British historical drama named Chariots of Fire won the People’s Choice award at the Festival of Festivals. The film would then go on to win four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. This marks the beginning of the People’s Choice Award’s association with Oscar glory, with many of the winners of this award […]
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (15/12/2012)
More than a decade after The Lord of the Rings first graced the screens, Peter Jackson returns to Middle Earth for the first of three films based on, J.R.R. Tokien’s Lord of the Rings predecessor, The Hobbit. While the original source novel is a relatively brief children’s story, in comparison to the latter books, Peter […]