IAN HOLM

Ian Holm ,who worked right up to his death at 88, was one of those character actors whose face you can’t come up with- until you see him in a movie and think “Oh, yeah- that guy.” A reader requested a column on him, and with over 136 acting credits there is plenty to choose from, so here goes:

Most recently you would find Ian Holm appearing in most of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies as Bilbo Baggins. 
In Alien (1979) Holm is cast as Ash, a really bad guy who tries to scuttle the mission along with the human crew. Fortunately, though maybe not so much for him, he is decapitated and turns out to be an android! 
In Robin And Marian (1976) Holm is the hated King John, who hunted the noble Robin Hood like a dog and who was forced to sign the Magna Carta. Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn shine as the title characters, middle-aged lovers, still charming.
In Chariots Of Fire (1981) one of the two British runners who are the movie’s heroes is Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross). In 1919 he breaks with tradition and hires a professional trainer. And that trainer is Sam Mussabini, played adeptly by Ian Holm. Later his protégé makes headlines by refusing to compete on the Jewish sabbath. 
In Kenneth Branagh’s marvelous adaption of Shakespeare’s Henry V (1989) Mr. Holm is Captain Fluellen, the right hand man of the fighting king. I think this version is only a hair behind the 1944 Henry V with Olivier.
Franco Zeffirelli’s splendid adaptation of Hamlet (1990) has Ian Holm as the foolish and doomed Polonious. He is surrounded by a stellar cast including Mel Gibson as the title character, Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield and Helena Bonham Carter. 
Playing the part of a rather quackish physician is no problem for Ian Holm, and he is such as Dr. Willis in The Madness Of King George (1994). His idea of curing the king’s craziness is to strap him into a tight vest whenever he misbehaves. Right...
Ian Holm is the dastardly Pascal in Big Night (1996). Brothers Primo (Tony Shaloub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) are trying to succeed with a new Italian restaurant. Pascal tell them he will have a famous opera star appear there at a certain time, on the Big Night. I will just say that Pascal is a competitor and doesn’t play fair.
Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Herafter (1997) involves a horrific school bus accident in which many children are killed. Many of the parents are recruited by attorney Mitchell Stevens to file a class action lawsuit. That lawyer is played by none other than Ian Holm, and this is one of his best roles. I’ll reveal no more!
Joe Gould was a semi-famous gadfly in New York in the1920's and after. He compiled an “oral history” of characters he encountered and many people were intrigued by this opus. One of them was Joseph Mitchell, who put together this story and this movie. Joe Gould’s Secret (2000) is the result and Mr. Holm plays the title character. What is the secret? My lips are sealed!
Ian Holm can also be seen as the somewhat evil Gideon Largeman in Garden State (2004), and as the quirky Professor Fitz in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator (2004).
All of these movies are available on DVD. All of them are adult films.