Hollywood has lost yet another bright star this year in Ian Holm, who passed away just recently in fact. The veteran actor has been responsible for bringing many characters to life over the long course of his life, many of which are highly memorable to a large number of fans. As one of the many individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Ian had also been treated for prostate cancer in 2001, though despite the cause of his death it’s his life that was truly interesting as acting was something he did quite well and there are plenty of memories to prove it. On of those is obviously as Father Vito Cornelius from The Fifth Element, a priest that dedicated his life to the return of an alien race that would protect the earth when it was time to stand against the ultimate evil. While Father Vito was a bit eccentric in a few ways he meant well, but he wasn’t above stealing and perpetrating a little violence in the name of saving the world. Doing the wrong thing for the right reason is after all something of a habit in action movies but it worked out since he played a notable character and even participated in a couple of rather funny scenes with Bruce Willis and Chris Tucker as well.
One role that a lot of people know he’ll be remembered for is as Bilbo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings movies, as he was after all the hobbit that started the whole thing off when he went on an adventure with Gandalf and the dwarves to the Lonely Mountain. But by the time LOTR comes around he’s getting to be an old man despite the fact that the ring is keeping him young, and Ian played it beautifully as the artifact was wearing upon him after so many years in his possession. Obviously it was to be an impressive feat that a hobbit could withstand the ring’s evil for so long, and it gave a great deal of credit to the small folk that one of their number could resist such a powerful force for such a period of time, particularly since it was seen that humans became susceptible to it right away. But then again, it’s also easy to note that the more pure a person is, the less likely it is that they’ll fall under the ring’s sway. Bilbo’s only downfall, or near downfall, was that he’d had the ring for so long and was loathe to give it up. He left it behind easily enough, but the moment Frodo showed it to him again, he nearly lost it. The talent that Holm possessed was enough to make a person believe the act in such a way that one couldn’t help but feel sorry for Bilbo in that moment.
Yet another part he should be remembered for is Ash from Alien, as he had a standout role there as well. Consider this, he’s the whole reason that Ripley never trusted another android until Bishop proved himself to her, as Ash not only defied her orders but also tried to kill her at one point in the movie. Thankfully she had help from her fellow crew members but the whole thing was put into perspective when it was discovered, by Ripley, that not only was Ash a robot, but that the distress call they’d veered off course to check had been something else, a warning to tell people to stay away. Even worse, Ash was under orders to bring back the specimen that had been found and the crew had become expendable. Some might call that outright evil and they’d be correct, but it was one massive plot twist that people should have seen coming since in the movies, a lot of times, big business is all about results, not the people getting them. Another role I happened to like of his came in the movie From Hell, starring Johnny Depp. Holm played the character of Sir William Gull, who ended up being the notorious murder known as Jack the Ripper, a killer that was notorious in England during the 19th century.
There are many movies and TV shows where Ian made his presence known and felt, and will be missed sorely for some time to come. Like many though he will go down in history as being one among the very best and a name that people will associate with one or more characters that he brought to life throughout the many years of his career. One could say that a talent like his comes around only once every so often, but that feels too cliche at this point, since the reality is that Ian was a very talented and skilled actor, but he will be remembered for simply being who he was, and that feels like enough.
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