Who Did Ian Holm Play in The Lord of the Rings?

Who Did Ian Holm Play in the Radio Adaptation of The Lord of the Rings?

Who Else Was Considered for the Role of Bilbo?

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy is perhaps the most celebrated book-to-film adaptation of all time. Somehow, he managed to do the unthinkable: he brought Middle-earth to life in a way that made it both accessible to new fans and pleased those who grew up loving Tolkien’s original novels.

However, it wasn’t the first successful adaptation of the novels. Twenty years before Peter Jackson’s films were released, a radio drama brought The Lord of the Rings to life for the first time. And, interestingly, it starred one of the trilogy’s stars in a completely different role than he went on to bring to life onscreen.

Who Did Ian Holm Play in The Lord of the Rings?

Movie
Ian Holm’s Character
Release Year

Chariots of Fire
Sam Mussabini
1981

Alien
Ash
1979

The Fifth Element
Father Vito Cornelius
1997

Ratatouille
Chef Skinner
2007

Ian Holm, one of the most renowned actors of our time, played Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Though Bilbo doesn’t play as significant a role in The Lord of the Rings as he does in The Hobbit (where he was expertly portrayed by Martin Freeman), casting him properly was still one of the greatest tasks the production had to face. After all, making a wrong choice meant alienating the audience and then perhaps the downfall of the trilogy as a whole. Luckily, they found a perfect choice in Ian Holm. He captured all the eccentricities that emerged later in Bilbo’s life. As Bilbo grew older, he became stranger and stranger (in part because his earlier adventures made it remarkably difficult for him to relate to the smaller-minded people of the Shire who cared very little about what the world looked like beyond their front door). This ultimately culminated in the incident at his one-hundred-and-eleventh birthday party, when he put the Ring on and disappeared from view entirely. He wanted to leave the Shire, as the world there seemed far too small for him now that he had progressed beyond its walls once. Ian Holm incorporated all those small quirks into his performance. There’s a certain level of wistfulness to everything he does as Bilbo, especially as he reminisces on his previous exploits. He makes it clear that the old Hobbit wanted to go on another adventure more than he wanted to continue living in his current state. Even though The Hobbit hadn’t been translated to the screen yet, his performance truly felt like the conclusion of a character arc that we were intimately familiar with, and it’s a testament to Holm’s prowess as an actor that he executed this.

Outside of The Lord of the Rings, Ian Holm had an outstandingly prolific career on both the screen and the stage. He burst onto the scene back in 1968 with his role in The Bofors Gun, which earned him his first BAFTA for his performance as Flynn, the only gunner who showed any respect for his superiors. He won his second BAFTA for Chariots of Fire, where he played athletics trainer Sam Mussabini. For this role, he was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, though he ultimately lost that to John Gielgud for his role in Arthur. He was nominated for two more BAFTAs for Best Supporting Actor (neither of which he won): one for Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, and one for The Madness of King George. His stage career was equally successful. In 1967, he won a Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role as Lenny in the renowned play The Homecoming. Then, in 1998, he took his talents to the Shakespearean side of things. He played the titular role in a version of King Lear and ultimately received the Olivier Award for Best Actor for that performance.

Who Did Ian Holm Play in the Radio Adaptation of The Lord of the Rings?

Cast of The Lord of the Rings Radio Adaptation
Who They Played

Ian Holm
Frodo Baggins

Michael Hordern
Gandalf

Robert Stephens
Aragorn

Bill Nighy
Samwise Gamgee

Richard O’Callaghan
Merry Brandybuck

John McAndrew
Pippin Took

David Collings
Legolas

Douglas Livingston
Gimli

Michael Graham Cox
Boromir

read more

His role as Bilbo wasn’t Ian Holm’s first brush with the world of Middle-earth, however. Back in 1981, The Lord of the Rings was adapted for radio – and Ian Holm played the role of Frodo. The three novels were broken down into twenty-six half-hour-long episodes (though eventually, the series was released as a set of thirteen-hour-long episodes instead). Though it’s still a fairly comprehensive adaptation, many things had to be removed to condense the story into something that could plausibly be released over a short period. Like in Jackson’s films, the character of Tom Bombadil was taken out entirely. Additionally, several other minor characters were removed rather than having dialogue written for them, as it streamlined the narrative just a bit more. However, it also incorporated some components of the Unfinished Tales, which is interesting since it was trying to make the whole story feel a bit more linear rather than like the sprawling epic it is. It also shifted the structure of the novels just a bit (much in the same way the films did) to make the narrative feel more chronological rather than being told in interlaced installments like the novels.

Before the release of Peter Jackson’s films, this was considered the definitive adaptation of Tolkien’s incredible novels. Much of the dialogue came directly out of the pages of the original novels, which makes it profoundly faithful to the text. Not only that but the cast was celebrated for their work. Ian Holm’s Frodo perfectly blended the young Hobbit’s idealism with his sheer determination to ensure that Middle-earth didn’t fall to the forces of evil. It evoked powerful images of the world of Middle-earth within the imaginations of the listeners, which is a great feat when considering that all it had to work with was the soundscape of this fantasy world. A few scholars even still prefer it to the Jackson adaptations, which is once again, another testament to just how excellent of an adaptation it is.

Who Else Was Considered for the Role of Bilbo?

Ian Holm was ultimately Peter Jackson’s first choice for the role, but in the event he turned it down, Jackson still had to create a shortlist of actors that would have been excellent for the part. Toward the top of the list was brilliant performer Sylvester McCoy. By this point, McCoy’s popularity had already skyrocketed – which would have brought more people into the audience. He inherited the titular role in the wildly popular program Doctor Who and became the Seventh Doctor in 1987, taking over from Colin Baker. Though he started as a more lighthearted incarnation of the character, he quickly took a turn for the grim. He turned out to be far more manipulative than any of his predecessors – which, interestingly, fans enjoyed about his portrayal. Even to this day, he’s considered to be one of the greatest actors to play the Doctor. Sylvester McCoy eventually did go on to make his mark on Middle-earth. When Peter Jackson returned to the universe to make the Hobbit trilogy, he sought out Sylvester McCoy to play Radagast the Brown, one of the other Istari. Interestingly, Radagast as a character doesn’t appear in The Hobbit. He initially only played a very small part in The Lord of the Rings novels (which was cut from the films, it’s worth noting). However, to give McCoy something to do (and flesh out the story as it was stretched into three movies), Radagast got to be a more featured player in the story. He’s one of Gandalf’s dearest companions and aids him in his pursuit of the Necromancer of Dol Guldur. He eventually musters up the bravery to fight alongside the White Council when they confront the Necromancer once and for all. Radagast then goes on to lead the group of Eagles who appear at the Battle of the Five Armies.