He died June 19. There was a now-gone thread in the SDMB Brigadoon, but I thought he deserved a more permanent one.
Holm was a talented chameleon of an actor and a nice guy, by all accounts. I particularly remember him as a drunk, feisty Napoleon in Time Bandits, an icily efficient science officer in Alien, a cunning bureaucrat in Brazil and a sprightly hobbit in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. May he rest in peace.
I looked him up on Wikipedia just a few weeks ago because I was trying to remember the name of the movie where he plays Napoleon switching places with a sailor to escape from St. Helena (“The Emperor’s New Clothes”).
He was also very good in “The Sweet Hereafter”.
Thanks for creating the thread.
In addition to playing Bilbo in the LOTR movies, he played Frodo in the BBC radio drama, whcih I am fond of (great for long road trips)
Brian
He had the talent to play both the heavy and the good guy and sell them both. He was always a pleasure to watch. My own favorite was Chariots of Fire, where he was the ‘professional’ trainer for one of the runners. His muttered line “I’ve seen better organized riots” is still a go-to for me.
Fare ye well, Mr. Holms’
He was excellent as Napoleon in Time Bandits and as the bodiless Ash in Alien. He had small but effective turns in The Aviator and Garden State. He was also very good in a more substantive supporting role in The Advocate (1993, a.k.a. The Hour of the Pig), one of the more obscure titles in his oeuvre, in which he plays a country priest in 15th century France quite unlike the 23rd century silly-ass priest he plays in The Fifth Element.
I’m currently busy watching him in The Lost Boys.
Brilliant understated acting, and Ian Holm is in almost every scene throughout the three 1½ hour episodes. Exceptional and natural child actors too.
Also historically accurate, with no added modern melodrama or modern points of view, and not dumbed down. But it’s very slow, so not everyone will enjoy it.
I was so sad to hear this!
You need to read Peter Jackson’s write-up on Ian Holm, especially the part about how he came to join The Hobbit movies.
He’s dead, but you can still talk to him if you put his head on a table and hook up the right wires.
I hadn’t realized that Holm played Mussabini in Chariots of Fire. He was also very good in the Sweet Hereafter particularly in the scene where he talks about almost losing his daughter.
That was a lovely article. Thanks for sharing
He also played the successful Italian restaurant owner in Big Night, and more than holds his own opposite Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub.
You are welcome!
My favorite Ian Holm movie is The Sweet Hereafter, in which he plays a lawyer who comes to a Canadian town to enlist the residents in a lawsuit over a school bus accident in which most of the town’s children were killed. Many of the townspeople are unhappy with him because his investigations stir up some bad memories. His character is motivated not just by money, but by loss in his own life. The story has parallels with The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Well, at least the Whitechapel doxies can breathe easier tonight…
…he was good in From Hell, is what I’m saying.
I’m remembering Dreamchild and eXistenZ. In the latter he spoke Hungarian.