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Rise to Fame
The Tony he won in 1967 for Harold Pinter's The Homecoming barely registered outside theater circles. What actually got him on international radar was Ash, the android in Alien (1979), a character who worked precisely because Holm played him with absolutely no affect. The Oscar nomination for Chariots of Fire two years later confirmed he was the real thing. By the time he appeared as Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings (2001), he'd been doing this for nearly fifty years.
In the Spotlight
In 1976, mid-run of The Iceman Cometh at the RSC, Holm walked off stage and didn't return to live theater for nearly 17 years. His career continued in film and television, but the stage version of him effectively disappeared. Harold Pinter lured him back in 1993 with Moonlight, and he won the Evening Standard Award. His King Lear earned him the Olivier. Most people who quit their discipline that completely don't come back and win its highest prize.
Side Notes
The BBC Radio Lord of the Rings cast him as Frodo in 1981. Twenty years later, Peter Jackson cast him as Bilbo. He had five children from three different relationships and was married four times. When his Parkinson's diagnosis made travel to New Zealand impractical, Jackson filmed his final Hobbit scenes in London instead.
Final Chapter
Peter Jackson published a tribute recounting the specific arrangements made to film Holm's final Hobbit scenes in London due to his declining health. Edgar Wright described him as 'a genius actor' who brought presence to parts 'funny, heartbreaking and terrifying.' Weeks before his death, Holm had sent a recorded message to a virtual Lord of the Rings cast reunion, apologizing for missing it from what he called his 'hobbit home, or Holm.'