Ian Holm

Ian Holm Cuthbert was born on 12 September 1931 in Goodmayes, Essex, to Scottish parents, James Cuthbert and his wife Jean (née Holm). His father was a psychiatrist who worked as the superintendent of the West Ham Corporation Mental Hospital and was one of the pioneers of electric shock therapy; his mother was a nurse. He had an older brother who died when Ian was 12 years old. Holm was educated at the independent Chigwell School in Essex. A chance encounter with Henry Baynton, a well-known provincial Shakespearean actor, helped Holm train for admission to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he secured a place from 1950. Two years later, he made his London stage debut in Love Affair. == Career ==

Holm was an established actor in the Royal Shakespeare Company before he gained notice in television and film. He began in 1954 with minor roles, progressing to Puck in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream and the fool in King Lear. In 1969, he appeared in Moonlight on the Highway. He took on minor roles in films such as Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Mary, Queen of Scots (1972) and Young Winston'' (1972). In 1967, Holm won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play as Lenny in The Homecoming by Harold Pinter. Holm appeared in the 1977 television mini-series Jesus of Nazareth as the Sadducee Zerah, and as the villain in March or Die. The following year, he played J. M. Barrie in the award-winning BBC mini-series The Lost Boys. In 1981, he played Frodo Baggins in the BBC radio adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Holm's first film role to gain much notice was that of Ash, the "calm, technocratic" science officer – later revealed to be an android – in Ridley Scott's science-fiction film Alien (1979). In 1989, Holm was nominated for a BAFTA award for the television series Game, Set and Match. Based on the novels by Len Deighton, this tells the story of an intelligence officer (Holm) who finds a security leak at the heart of his network. He continued to perform Shakespeare in films. He appeared with Kenneth Branagh in Henry V (1989) and as Polonius to Mel Gibson's Hamlet (1990). Holm was reunited with Branagh in ''Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'' (1994), playing the father of Branagh's Victor Frankenstein. in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The role brought him wider fame, somewhat overshadowing the rest of his acting career. Martin Freeman portrayed the young Bilbo in those films. Holm was nominated for an Emmy Award twice, for a PBS broadcast of a National Theatre production of King Lear, in 1999; and for a supporting role in the HBO film The Last of the Blonde Bombshells opposite Judi Dench, in 2001. He voiced Chef Skinner in the Pixar animated film Ratatouille (2007). His acting was admired by Harold Pinter: the playwright once said: "He puts on my shoe, and it fits!" Holm played Lenny in both the London and New York City premieres of Pinter's The Homecoming; the BBC wrote that he "electrified audiences" in the play. He played Napoleon Bonaparte three times: in the television mini-series Napoleon and Love (1974), Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981), and ''The Emperor's New Clothes'' (2001). Holm received royal recognition for his contributions: he was made CBE in 1989 and knighted in 1998. == Personal life ==

Holm was married four times: to Lynn Mary Shaw in 1955 (divorced 1965); to Sophie Baker in 1982 (divorced 1986); to the actress Penelope Wilton, in 1991 (divorced 2001); and to the artist Sophie de Stempel in 2003. He had five children. Holm and Wilton appeared together in the BBC miniseries The Borrowers (1993). His last wife, Sophie de Stempel, was a protégée and a life model of Lucian Freud, and an artist. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1989 by Queen Elizabeth II. Holm was treated for prostate cancer in 2001. ==Death==

Holm died in hospital in London on 19 June 2020 at the age of 88. According to Alex Irwin, Holm's agent, his death was related to Parkinson's disease. ==Posthumous image use==

For the 2024 film Alien: Romulus, the android character Rook was meant to be the same model as Ash, the character Holm played in the first Alien film in 1979. With the consent of his heirs, the depiction of Rook was created using a combination of animatronics and computer-generated imagery based on Holm's archive data, with another actor providing Rook's voice. == Filmography ==

Film Television Theatre == Honours and accolades ==

• 1989: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1989 Birthday Honours. • 1998: Knighted in the 1998 Birthday Honours for services to drama. == Bibliography ==