10 Best Ian Holm Performances
8. Dr. Francis Willis - The Madness Of George
Based on Alan Bennett's play The Madness of George III, the film The Madness of King George depicts the first bout of madness that the famous kind displayed, Holm portray Dr. Francis Willis, the doctor who was credited with successfully treating the monarch's mind.
The film depicts him in a sympathetic light, tasked with the highly unenviable task of caring for the King's mental state. With so much riding on the efforts to be a success, Holm portrays both the confidence and fear the man must have felt perfectly.
Willis is something of a revolutionary in the film, as he is the one to bring new methods of defeating madness. While the King had been treated using the primitive standards of the day, including blistering the skin, Willis instead recommended that he be restrained in a waist coat and detained when the King showed any signs of resistance to treatment.
It seemed to work. The King recovers sufficiently to present himself before government. Willis was heralded as a genius in his time.
History however has a slightly different, more bitter ending to the story.
After this recovery, Willis would commission a medal of achievement, presented to himself, based on his success. The King relapsed in later years, initially treated by Willis' sons. The King would finally devolve entirely to madness, succumbing and dying from it eventually.
Thankfully, the film stops short of this - and Holm portrays him as a healer and helper!