A character actor who eventually took leading roles, Mr. Holm had a range that went from the sweet-tempered to the psychotic.<\/b>
\nIan Holm, a virtuosic British actor celebrated for his performances in plays by Shakespeare and Harold Pinter and in movies from Sidney Lumet\u2019s \u201cNight Falls on Manhattan\u201d to the \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d and \u201cHobbit\u201d trilogies, died on Friday in London. He was 88.
Isabella Riggs, an employee of his agents, Markham, Froggatt & Irwin, confirmed the death, in a hospital. She said the cause was an illness related to Parkinson\u2019s disease.
A character actor who eventually played leading roles, Mr. Holm had a kind of magical malleability, with a range that went from the sweet-tempered to the psychotic. In the theater he ran the gamut of Shakespeare, from the high-spirited Prince Hal to the tormented King Lear, and he left his imprint on two roles in Mr. Pinter\u2019s \u201cThe Homecoming\u201d: the sleek, entrepreneurial Lenny and his autocratic father, Max.
In films, Mr. Holm incarnated characters of diverse geographic origin and nature, including a tough New York cop in \u201cNight Falls on Manhattan\u201d (1996), a big-city negligence lawyer in Atom Agoyan\u2019s \u201cThe Sweet Hereafter\u201d (1997) and a bohemian genius manqu\u00e9 in the title role in Stanley Tucci\u2019s \u201cJoe Gould\u2019s Secret\u201d (2000).
Exploring the world of fantasy, he was a malfunctioning robot in Ridley Scott\u2019s \u201cAlien\u201d (1979) and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in \u201cThe Fellowship of the Ring\u201d and \u201cThe Return of the King,\u201d from Peter Jackson\u2019s \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d trilogy.
Explaining his ability to immerse himself in such disparate characters, Mr. Holm said simply, \u201cI\u2019m a chameleon.\u201d The transformation was emotional as well as physical, as he discovered new depths of compassion even in the most unlikely characters.
In 1993, overcoming a serious case of stage fright, he returned to the theater after an absence of more than 15 years to star in Mr. Pinter\u2019s \u201cMoonlight.\u201d Four years later he set himself the monumental challenge of \u201cKing Lear\u201d at the National Theater in London. It brought him the Laurence Olivier award as best actor. Playing Lear, he said, was \u201clike climbing Everest with no oxygen.\u201d
In 1989 he played Captain Fluellen in a film adaptation of \u201cHenry V.\u201d In his memoir, Kenneth Branagh, the director and star of the movie, said of Mr. Holm: \u201cActing with him was like playing a racket game with someone very much more skilled. One was never sure how the ball would come back, but it would always be exciting and unexpected.\u201d
\u201cHe is a master of film technique,\u201d Mr. Branagh continued. \u201cI\u2019d heard the Ian Holm School of Acting described as follows: \u2018Anything you can do, I can do less of.\u2019\u201d
Mr. Holm was most closely identified with Mr. Pinter\u2019s work. In 1965 he created the role of Lenny in \u201cThe Homecoming,\u201d and he won a Tony Award after the play moved to Broadway two years later. He also played the role in a 1973 film version directed by Peter Hall.
Years later, in 2001, he took the role of Max, the aging patriarch, in the same play, presenting it at the Harold Pinter festival at Lincoln Center in New York and in London. The switch was as dramatic as his move from Prince Hal to King Lear. In fact, his Max had more than a touch of Lear.
Ian Holm Cuthbert was born Sept.12,1931, in Goodmayes, England. Because his father was a doctor and the superintendent of a mental hospital, he was fond of saying that he was born \u201cin a loony bin,\u201d hinting that it qualified him to be an actor. Holm was his mother\u2019s maiden name.
After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, he made his stage debut at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1954 as a spear carrier in \u201cOthello.\u201d He was a member of the Shakespeare company there for two years, then made his London debut in 1956 in \u201cLove Affair.\u201d
Returning to Stratford with the newly formed Royal Shakespeare Company, he quickly moved up in the ranks, along with Judi Dench, Ian Richardson and Diana Rigg, among others. He played Sebastian in \u201cTwelfth Night,\u201d Puck in \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d and the Fool to Charles Laughton\u2019s Lear.
Mr. Holm added Chekhov to his laurels in 1961. In a Royal Shakespeare Company production of \u201cThe Cherry Orchard,\u201d starring Peggy Ashcroft, John Gielgud, Judi Dench and Dorothy Tutin, he played Trofimov. In his biography \u201cPeggy Ashcroft,\u201d Michael Billington wrote that Alec Guinness told him that Mr. Holm\u2019s Trofimov \u2014 \u201cintense, urgent, on the brink of neurosis\u201d \u2014 was \u201cvery much the kind of performance\u201d that Guinness would have liked to have given when he played the role in 1939.
In 1963, in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of \u201cThe War of the Roses,\u201d Mr. Holm was a psychopathic Richard III. Subsequently he shifted to Prince Hal and his older incarnation as Henry V, which he did in repertory with \u201cThe Homecoming.\u201d Mr. Hall, again the director, said, \u201cThe company of actors, led by Peggy Ashcroft and Ian Holm, had made something live that had never lived before.\u201d
Mr. Holm\u2019s first films, both in 1968, were \u201cThe Fixer,\u201d directed by John Frankenheimer, and Peter Hall\u2019s version of \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d in which he played Puck. In 1981 he was nominated for an Academy Award for playing an Olympic trainer in \u201cChariots of Fire.\u201d His other films included \u201cTime Bandits\u201d (as Napoleon), \u201cThe Fifth Element,\u201d \u201cBig Night,\u201d \u201cBrazil,\u201d \u201cThe Madness of King George\u201d and \u201cMary Shelley\u2019s \u2018Frankenstein.\u2019
On television Mr. Holm did \u201cThe Browning Version,\u201d \u201cThe Borrowers,\u201d \u201cMurder by the Book\u201d (he was Hercule Poirot to Ms. Ashcroft\u2019s Agatha Christie) and \u201cThe Last of the Blond Bombshells\u201d (with Ms. Dench).
In 1976, at the height of his career, he was cast as Hickey in \u201cThe Iceman Cometh,\u201d one of the most demanding of contemporary roles. During previews he suffered from stage fright so acute that it was later characterized as a breakdown. He left the production and, unable to perform in the theater, he concentrated on films and television, gathering a reputation for being outstanding in small roles in movies that included \u201cDance With a Stranger,\u201d \u201cGreystoke,\u201d \u201cDreamchild\u201d and \u201cA Life Less Ordinary.\u201d
After many years of avoiding the theater, he was asked what it would take for him to return to the stage. He answered, \u201cWell, maybe if Harold Pinter wrote a new play and asked me to be in it, it would be an offer I couldn\u2019t refuse.\u201d That is what happened.
In \u201cMoonlight\u201d he played an angry, bitter man facing death. Having triumphed once again in a Pinter play, he then did \u201cLear.\u201d Preparing for the role, he worked intensively with the voice coach Patsy Rodenburg, investigating, in her words, \u201cthe manifestations of his fear.\u201d
When Mr. Holm opened in \u201cLear,\u201d it turned out to be a defining moment in his career, bringing him rapturous notices. Piercing to the heart of the character as king and father, he exposed all his emotions, and at a crucial point, mad on the heath, he dropped his cloak to reveal an old man\u2019s nudity. The production was later presented on television.
He was Frodo Baggins in the 1981 BBC radio version of \u201cThe Lord of the Rings,\u201d but, later in his career, Mr. Holm was much better known for playing another hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, in the highly successful \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d and \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d movie trilogies. These were roles he was naturally suited to, not just because of his acting skill, but also his small stature. (He was 5 foot 5 inches, a perfect height for a hobbit.)
\u201cI\u2019m completely amazed by the reaction that the films have had,\u201d he told The Independent newspaper in 2004. \u201cI get a lot of fan mail addressed to Bilbo and sometimes Sir Bilbo,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hardly ever addressed to Ian Holm.\u201d He made sure to sign replies with his character\u2019s name, he added.
He was survived by Sophie de Stempel, his fourth wife; five children; and eight grandchildren, Ms. Riggs, of his agency, said.
Reflecting on his two primary theatrical sources, Shakespeare and Mr. Pinter, Mr. Holm said that they were equally difficult to perform. Carefully choosing his words, he added, \u201cYou need so much control for all that stillness and discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n