Ian Holm: Alien. And Chariots of Fire, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. And King Lear for which he received a BAFTA. And many, many more: I believe his knighthood came before LotR was made; certainly he had been in a huge number of prominent films going back to the early 70s. He also, significantly, played Frodo in the BBC radio adaptation.
Holm, Lee, McKellen and Blanchett were the four "big names" in the cast (and all of them had, or since have, been knighted* for their acting careers.)
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*In Cate's case, by France. Oz doesn't do knighthoods any more.
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.
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