Tony and Olivier Award Winner Ian Holm Dies at 88 | Playbill

Obituaries Tony and Olivier Award Winner Ian Holm Dies at 88 The stage and screen star appeared on Broadway and in the West End, as well as in The Lord of the Rings films.

Tony and Olivier Award winner Ian Holm, known for his screen work in Chariots of Fire and The Lord of the Rings, died June 19 at the age of 88.

Holm's agent confirmed the star's passing to The Hollywood Reporter.

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Ian Holm Friedman-Abeles/©NYPL for the Performing Arts

The versatile performer made his Broadway debut as Lenny in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming at the Music Box Theatre in 1967, picking up the Tony for Best Featured Actor in Play and reprising his role in the 1973 film adaptation. He stopped performing in theatre following a severe case of stage fright in 1976, and didn't return to a major production until 1993 in Pinter's Moonlight. Later, Holm starred in Richard Eyre's Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear, winning the Olivier Award for Best Actor in 1998. He also earned a 1999 Emmy Award nomination for the production's TV adaptation, as well as another Emmy nomination in 2001 for The Last of the Blonde Bombshells.

Holm was born September 12, 1931, in Goodmayes, England, and grew up next to the mental asylum his father ran. After a series of starts and stops due to military and acting tours, Holm graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1953.

Throughout his early stage career, Holm performed opposite some of theatre's biggest stars as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company, including Laurence Olivier in a 1959 production of Coriolanus.

Recognized by many for his work in movies and television, Holm garnered international attention as the scene-stealing Ash in Ridley Scott's Alien and earned an Oscar nomination in 1981 for his work as Olympic trainer Sam Mussabini in Chariots of Fire. Other film credits include Brazil, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Madness of King George, The Sweet Hereafter, and The Fifth Element. His portrayal of Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy endeared him to a new generation of fans.

In 2004, Holm released a memoir entitled Acting My Life.

 
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