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The death of Sir Ian Holm has been announced today; he had been suffering from Parkinson's Disease. In the movies, he became renowned as a reliable member of ensemble casts, rarely taking the lead, though his grounding had been in theatre where he did just that. In a career that spanned the stage, radio (he was Frodo first in the Radio 4 Lord of the Rings), television and cinema, he may be best known as Bilbo, reviving the hobbit role in Peter Jackson's films, but he had a long list of credits and never gave a bad performance.
Among his better roles were in The Bofors Gun, The Fixer, Oh! What a Lovely War, Young Winston, The Homecoming (reprising his stage performance in the Pinter drama), Juggernaut, Robin and Marian, Shout at the Devil, March or Die, Alien (as the android crewmember), Chariots of Fire, Time Bandits (as Napoleon), Return of the Soldier, Singleton's Pluck, Brazil, Wetherby, Dance with a Stranger, Branagh's Henry V, Hamlet and Frankenstein, Kafka, Cronenberg's Naked Lunch and ExistenZ, The Madness of King George, Big Night, The Fifth Element, The Sweet Hereafter, A Life Less Ordinary, From Hell, The Day After Tomorrow, Scorsese's The Aviator, Lord of War and Pixar's Rataouille. His depression meant a loss to theatre for many years, but movies provided him with channel for his talent, and were every film buff's gain. |
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