Answer: Ian Holm
Ian Holm has enjoyed a career that has lasted for more than sixty years. Born in the county of Essex on the 12th of September 1931, Holm graduated from RADA, The Royal Academy for the Dramatic Arts in 1953. By 1960 he had become an established member of what was to later become the Royal Shakespeare Company. During his career he has appeared in a variety of diverse roles; he first came to prominence in 1965 for his role as Richard III in the BBC dramatisation 'The Wars of the Roses'. Over the following decade he built his reputation in a number of historical roles with productions such as 'Mary, Queen of Scots' and 'Young Winston', the story of the early life of the great war leader, Sir Winston Churchill. Now Sir Ian Holm, he was knighted in 1998 for services to drama, he will be familiar to cinema goers for his roles as running coach Sam Mussabini in the 1981 film 'Chariots of Fire', as Ash, the synthetic human in the 1979 sci-fi horror 'Alien', and more recently in both the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy and 'The Hobbit' series of films in the role of Bilbo Baggins.