Sir Ian Holm CBE (September 12, 1931 – June 19, 2020) was an Academy Award-nominated English actor who portrayed Ash in the 1979 film Alien. He later lent his likeness to the character in the 2014 video game Alien: Isolation and its expansion packs, although he did not provide the character's voice in this appearance. Holm's likeness and voice were referenced for the character Rook in the 2024 film Alien: Romulus.[1] Other notable films Holm appeared in include Chariots of Fire (1981), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), The Fifth Element (1997) and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) and The Hobbit (2012-2014) trilogies.
Holm was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (for Chariots of Fire), and won two BAFTAs. He had a long history of appearing in adaptations of Shakespeare plays, both on stage and on-screen. In 1998, Holm was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for his "services to drama".
Filmography[]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Girls at Sea | Uncredited |
| 1977 | Annie | |
| 1968 | The Bofors Gun | |
| The Fixer | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | ||
| 1969 | Oh! What a Lovely War | |
| 1970 | A Severed Head | |
| 1971 | Nicholas and Alexandra | |
| Mary, Queen of Scots | ||
| 1972 | Young Winston | |
| 1973 | The Homecoming | |
| 1974 | Juggernaut | |
| 1976 | Robin and Marian | |
| Shout at the Devil | ||
| 1977 | The Man in the Iron Mask | |
| March or Die | ||
| Jesus of Nazareth | ||
| 1978 | Les Misérables | |
| 1979 | Alien | |
| S.O.S. Titanic | ||
| 1981 | Chariots of Fire | |
| Time Bandits | ||
| 1982 | The Return of the Soldier | |
| Inside the Third Reich | ||
| 1984 | Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes | With Roy Scammell |
| Terror in the Aisles | Archive footage; with Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton and Sigourney Weaver | |
| 1985 | Dreamchild | |
| Wetherby | ||
| Brazil | With Clive Curtis and Tip Tipping | |
| Dance with a Stranger | ||
| Mr and Mrs Edgehill | ||
| 1988 | Another Woman | |
| 1989 | Henry V | With Nick Gillard and Danny Webb |
| 1990 | Hamlet | With Christopher Fairbank and Pete Postlethwaite |
| 1991 | Naked Lunch | |
| Kafka | With Brian Glover | |
| 1992 | Blue Ice | With Simon Crane, Phil Davis and Tip Tipping |
| 1993 | The Hour of the Pig | |
| 1994 | Mary Shelley's Frankenstein | With Simon Crane |
| The Madness of King George | ||
| 1996 | Big Night | |
| Loch Ness | ||
| 1997 | Night Falls on Manhattan | |
| The Sweet Hereafter | ||
| The Fifth Element | With Christopher Fairbank, Al Matthews, Vladimir McCrary, Mac McDonald and Mark Anthony Newman | |
| A Life Less Ordinary | With Dan Hedaya | |
| Incognito | Uncredited; with Paul Brennen | |
| 1998 | Alive Through the Looking Glass | |
| King Lear | ||
| 1999 | Animal Farm | |
| Shergar | ||
| eXistenZ | ||
| Simon Magus | With Clive Curtis | |
| Wisconsin Death Trip | ||
| The Match | ||
| 2000 | Joe Gould's Scret | |
| The Miracle Maker | ||
| The Last of the Blonde Bombshells | ||
| Esther Kahn | ||
| Beautiful Joe | ||
| Bless the Child | With Henry Kingi and Brian Steele | |
| 2001 | From Hell | |
| The Emperor's New Clothes | ||
| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | ||
| 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | With Brad Dourif[2] |
| 2004 | The Day After Tomorrow | |
| Garden State | ||
| The Aviator | ||
| 2005 | Strangers with Candy | With Dan Hedaya |
| Chromophobia | ||
| Lord of War | With Eddie Yansick | |
| 2006 | Renaissance | |
| O Jerusalem | ||
| The Treatment | ||
| 2007 | Ratatouille | With James Remar |
| 2012 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | |
| 2014 | The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies | |
| 2024 | Alien: Romulus | Due to Holm's death in 2020, his role in this movie was portrayed with the use of AI facial and vocal reconstruction. |
Trivia[]
- Holm is the only actor from the original cast of Alien not to reprise his role in Alien: Isolation or its DLC (although he did lend his likeness to his character).
Gallery[]
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ Cooper Hood, Ian Holm's Role In Alien: Romulus Explained, Screen Rant, August 15, 2024.
- ↑ Dourif's appearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was cut from the theatrical release, but later reinstated in the Extended Edition