Ian Holm always rocks the house. What is it with British actors named Ian? 
(Holm is also wonderful in Branagh’s Henry V, in which he plays the garrulous Welsh captain Fluellen, and the adaptation of LotR BBC Radio did in the 1970s, in which he plays Frodo. I highly recommend both of these, and neither one is that hard to find. ;))
Chronos – point taken, although it does go to show that people today and people in Shakespeare’s day aren’t always entertained by the same things…
jsc1953: Now I remember! “You wouldn’t part an old man from his staff, would you?” ::wink, wink::
I adore Ian Holm! Loved him as Ash the android in Alien; as the unscrupulous bastard rival restaurateur in Big Night; as the strong-willed doctor in The Madness Of King George; and of course as Bilbo. Out of all the marvellously cast people in that LotR ensemble, I liked the casting of Bilbo best of all. I’ll certainly look into that King Lear production.
Small important note. Just because it was written some 400 year ago, don’t think Richard III is anything close to history the 'way it was". It was a propaganda hit piece to justify the Tudors. RIII, although certainly a man of his times, was not hunchbacked, and asfar as we know, both arms were sound. Nor did he perform most of the atrocities attributed to him. Likely, he didn’t cause the death of the"Princes in the Tower", either. They were likely murdered on the order of the first Tudor monarch.
I agree with most of what you say, certainly - but as to this last, there have been other recent threads about it. It seems quite possible he IS responsible for the death of the princes. I’m not a historian, but the evidence I saw here seemed pretty compelling. Not that anything could change my enjoyment of Sir Ian’s performance. 
Like Marley said, that much is still very much under debate
I viewed the X-Men videotape again. Remember the scene where Sabertooth unsuccessfully tries to pull up Senator Kelly from the ledge, so then Magneto waves his hand and the cell bars go up and Sabertooth is stuck outside on the ledge?
I could hear in my mind Magneto muttering to himself, “Fool of a Tooth!”
