- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Press; First Edition edition (1 Sep 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0593052145
- ISBN-13: 978-0593052143
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,176,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Ian Holm is an actor. Over the last fifty years, he has become one of the most respected and widely admired actors of his generation. He has worked on stage, screen, television, and radio. After making a brilliant impact at the RSC in the 1960s, he consolidated his reputation with work for Harold Pinter. He then turned to film and became one of the most accomplished film actors this country has produced. He has been seen in cult and popular classics such as 'Alien', 'Chariots of Fire', 'The Fifth Element' and 'Lord of the Rings'. On stage, his King Lear was reckoned to be one of the best this century, while others might remember him for his portrayal of J.M. Barrie in BBC television's 'The Lost Boys', or for his work in Atom Egoyam's acclaimed film, 'The Sweet Hereafter'. The winner of many awards, Ian Holm was knighted in 1997. Now he has written his story. It is a compelling mix of anecdote and observation, taking in not only half a century of acting, but also his childhood, growing up next to the mental asylum his father ran. Often candid and funny, the narrative combines his personal and professional lives, and talks with insight about his own on-stage break-down (which led to a prolonged absence from the stage), the women in his life, the nervous condition which still haunts him, and his battle with cancer. He has perceptive things to say about the people with whom he worked, and provides a rare, intimate window into the peculiar people who inhabit a strange profession. Ian Holm's story is both honest and touching. His one lifelong commitment has been to his acting, and that same intensity is now brought to his writing.
From the Back Cover
Over the last fifty years Ian Holm has become one of the most respected actors of his generation. From his brilliant début with the RSC in the 1960s, he has gone on to work with Harold Pinter and appeared in such cult and popular films as Alien, Chariots of Fire, The Fifth Element and Lord of the Rings. His varied career spans stage, screen, television and radio.
Now he has written his autobiography. It is a compelling, personal story that takes in over half a century of acting, but also his colourful personal life - growing up next to the mental asylum run by his father, the women in his life, his on-stage breakdown (which led to a prolonged absence from the stage), and his battle with cancer. Acting My Life is both honest and touching. His one lifelong commitment has been to his acting, and that same intensity is now brought to his writing.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
By the time I finished this well-written (partly-ghosted) book, I felt as anxiety-ridden as Holm obviously is himself! I would have only vaguely recognized the name before seeing this book, but the face is instantly recognizable. Born in 1931, he apppears to have had a rather unhappy childhood though not poverty-stricken at all. He went to RADA and then got a job with the RSC at Stratford-on-Avon, where he stayed for seven years. It is only when one looks at the list of productions in which he has appeared that one realizes how very prolific he has been.
The actor (and he is very much an actor with a capital "A") is ridden with a slightly edgy doubt or anxiety. Therapists appear in the story, as do innumerable affairs, mostly though not entirely, women. He has been married four times and has five children.
He doubts even his good productions, such as the TV "Jesus of Nazareth", which I think superb, but he describes as merely "quite good of its type"...He seems to have some moral or political interests, but I suspect not very formal. He talks about working with the egregious Vanessa Redgrave and he notes her "Rebolutionary [sic] Workers' Party", but that proves the point really that he is not political in any ordinary sense, because it is or was (I think it is defunct now) of course the "Workers' ReVolutionary Party"...He seems interested in ideas about life-patterns and karma, but these are not discussed much in the book. He does seem very concerned to be thought of as having "achieved" but it is clear that that idea lives with a lot of self-doubt.
The book was published in 2004, at which time he was engaged in one of his best-known roles, as Bilbo Baggins in Lord of the Rings.
Not untypical of other theatrical memoirs in that the writer in effect screams "me me me" (his wives and children are mentioned but as people hardly discussed at all), it is a good read and I enjoyed it.
The actor (and he is very much an actor with a capital "A") is ridden with a slightly edgy doubt or anxiety. Therapists appear in the story, as do innumerable affairs, mostly though not entirely, women. He has been married four times and has five children.
He doubts even his good productions, such as the TV "Jesus of Nazareth", which I think superb, but he describes as merely "quite good of its type"...He seems to have some moral or political interests, but I suspect not very formal. He talks about working with the egregious Vanessa Redgrave and he notes her "Rebolutionary [sic] Workers' Party", but that proves the point really that he is not political in any ordinary sense, because it is or was (I think it is defunct now) of course the "Workers' ReVolutionary Party"...He seems interested in ideas about life-patterns and karma, but these are not discussed much in the book. He does seem very concerned to be thought of as having "achieved" but it is clear that that idea lives with a lot of self-doubt.
The book was published in 2004, at which time he was engaged in one of his best-known roles, as Bilbo Baggins in Lord of the Rings.
Not untypical of other theatrical memoirs in that the writer in effect screams "me me me" (his wives and children are mentioned but as people hardly discussed at all), it is a good read and I enjoyed it.
Format:Hardcover
I fell in love with Ian Holm in Mary, Queen of Scots; admired him in Greystoke, and thought he was phenomenal in Chariots of Fire. I so wish I hadn't read this book; how someone can have reached 80 and have so little self-knowledge is baffling. And the series of insults which he heaps upon Mark Lawson are worthy of a playground, rather than a knight of the theatre and star of the RSC. (For the record, ML had commented on the size of IH's, erm, primary sexual characteristic when IH appeared naked in his role as King Lear.) There is almost no mention of any of his co-stars in any film although there are, of course, references to Olivier. Strangely enough, the Gielgud/Lindsay Anderson double act in Chariots of Fire merits not one word, and I'm prepared to bet that an hour ot two spent with that pair would have been educational!
It's a biography, certainly, but one with a lot of surface and not terrifically much depth.
It's a biography, certainly, but one with a lot of surface and not terrifically much depth.
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