While playing "The Iceman Cometh" in 1976, he developed a severe case of stage fright and abandoned the theatre. He returned only three times after that.
He hated milk. Having to gargle and spit repeatedly in the final scene of Alien (1979) made him very uncomfortable.
He played Napoleon Bonaparte three times, in Napoleon and Love (1974), Time Bandits (1981) and The Emperor's New Clothes (2001), and was among the front-runners for the role in Stanley Kubrick's still-unmade biography.
He won Broadway's 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (Dramatic) for his role in "The Homecoming", which he reprised in the 1973 film version of Harold Pinter's play of the same name.
His children were: daughters Jessica Holm and Sarah-Jane Holm with Lynn Mary Shaw; son Harry Holm with Sophie Baker; and, from his relationship after his first marriage (1965-1976) with professional photographer Bee Gilbert, whom he never married, son Barnaby Holm and daughter Melissa (now a casting director under the name Lissy Holm).
He was the son of Jean Wilson (née Holm), a nurse of Scottish origin, and Dr. James Harvey Cuthbert.
He was set to play Pope John Paul II in a CBS miniseries but had to leave the production for undisclosed "personal reasons". Jon Voight replaced him.
Royal National Theatre: he was awarded the 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor of the 1997 season for his performance in "King Lear" on the Cottesloe stage.
Along with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, he played both Dr. Frankenstein and his Creature.
He was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours List and was knighted in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to drama.
He underwent treatment for prostate cancer in 2001.
He appeared in two adaptations of Mary Shelley's 1819 novel "Frankenstein": he played both Victor Frankenstein and the Creature in Frankenstein (1968), and Baron Frankenstein, Frankenstein's father, in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994).
He was awarded the 1993 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in "Moonlight".
He was an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
He was awarded the 1997 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in "King Lear".
As of 2014, he had appeared in five films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Chariots of Fire (1981), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Aviator (2004). Of these, Chariots of Fire (1981) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) won the category.
He voiced radio announcements for New York-Presbyterian Medical Center (New York City, USA), where he was treated for prostate cancer (2002).
He worked with two Frodos: Christopher Guard in Les Misérables (1978) and Elijah Wood in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Holm also played Frodo in a BBC Radio production. He also worked with three more Bilbos: Norman Bird (from Ralph Bakshi's film) in Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) and Young Winston (1972); Martin Freeman in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013); and John Le Mesurier in a BBC Radio production.
He shared two roles with Orson Bean. Bean voiced Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit (1977), while Holm played him in Peter Jackson's trilogy. Bean also played Frodo in The Return of the King (1980); Holm played Frodo on BBC radio.
He clearly had no objection to being buried up to his neck in pursuit of his craft, since it happened to him in at least three films: Alien (1979), Brazil (1985) and Simon Magus (1999).
He was awarded the 1997 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best Actor for his performance in "King Lear" at the Royal National Theatre.
He replaced Donald Sutherland at the last minute in the lead role of The Sweet Hereafter (1997).
Although he appeared in only two productions of "The Lord of the Rings", he worked with three Aragorns. He appeared with Viggo Mortensen in the Lord of the Rings films, with Robert Stephens in the radio adaptation, and worked with John Hurt in Alien (1979). Mortensen and Hurt also replaced other actors at the last minute.
On his return to the Royal Shakespeare Company in the mid-1960s, where he first won acclaim for his contemporary-styled "Richard III" and "Henry V", he developed a crippling case of "stage fright" during his 1976 performance in "The Iceman Cometh" and quickly withdrew from the production. For nearly twenty years his only stage appearance was as Astrov in "Uncle Vanya" in 1979. He finally returned to the theatre in 1993 to create the role of Andy in Harold Pinter's short play "Moonlight", for which he won the Evening Standard Award. "King Lear" a few years later earned him the Olivier Award as well as the Evening Standard and London Critic's Circle Theatre awards.
He was awarded the 1993 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Best Actor for "Moonlight". His wife, Penelope Wilton, was also honoured at the same awards ceremony, winning Best Actress for "The Deep Blue Sea".
He was 50 when he played Frodo in the BBC radio dramatization of "The Lord of the Rings"; Frodo was the same age when he set out to destroy the One Ring.
His remains were cremated at Breakspear Crematorium in Ruislip, England.
After directing him in Henry V (1989), Kenneth Branagh described his acting style as "Anything you can do, I can do less of."
He appeared in six films with David Warner: The Bofors Gun (1968), The Fixer (1968), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1969), Holocaust (1978), S.O.S. Titanic (1979) and Time Bandits (1981).
He played a meteorologist in The Day After Tomorrow (2004) (as Professor Terry Rapson) and The Aviator (2004) (as Professor Fitz).
He appeared in two films selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Alien (1979) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).
He shared two roles with Christian Clavier. Both played Thenardier from "Les Miserables." Thenardier calls himself "The Sergeant of Napoleon" and even gives his inn that name. Fittingly, both Holm and Clavier also played Napoleon himself.
He shares two roles with the other two Bilbos. He and Orson Bean both played Frodo Baggins, while he and Martin Freeman both played King Richard III.
Along with Ronald Lacey, he was one of the top choices to play the villain Morgus in The Caves of Androzani: Part One (1984), Peter Davison's final serial as the Doctor, and the part went to John Normington instead.
He took on the role of Frodo Baggins opposite Bill Nighy as Sam. This led to him playing Bilbo in the film adaptations. Those were followed by The Hobbit trilogy, in which Bilbo was played by Martin Freeman. Freeman also worked with Nighy several times: Love Actually; Shaun of the Dead; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Hot Fuzz; Wild Target; and The World's End.
He was addicted to films from an early age.
He joined the RSC in the 1960s.
He was born on exactly the same date as Bill McKinney, famous for "Deliverance."