A character actor who eventually took leading roles, Mr. Holm had a range that went from the sweet-tempered to the psychotic.
Ian Holm, a virtuosic British actor celebrated for his performances in plays by Shakespeare and Harold Pinter and in movies from Sidney Lumet’s “Night Falls on Manhattan” to the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” 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’s 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’s “The Homecoming”: 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 “Night Falls on Manhattan” (1996), a big-city negligence lawyer in Atom Agoyan’s “The Sweet Hereafter” (1997) and a bohemian genius manqué in the title role in Stanley Tucci’s “Joe Gould’s Secret” (2000).
Exploring the world of fantasy, he was a malfunctioning robot in Ridley Scott’s “Alien” (1979) and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Return of the King,” from Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Explaining his ability to immerse himself in such disparate characters, Mr. Holm said simply, “I’m a chameleon.” 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’s “Moonlight.” Four years later he set himself the monumental challenge of “King Lear” at the National Theater in London. It brought him the Laurence Olivier award as best actor. Playing Lear, he said, was “like climbing Everest with no oxygen.”
In 1989 he played Captain Fluellen in a film adaptation of “Henry V.” In his memoir, Kenneth Branagh, the director and star of the movie, said of Mr. Holm: “Acting 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.”
“He is a master of film technique,” Mr. Branagh continued. “I’d heard the Ian Holm School of Acting described as follows: ‘Anything you can do, I can do less of.
