There is Denethor, if you count him.
Saruman is a fairly minor character in the book. Out of the six books that make up LOTR, only one (The Treason of Isengard) really deals with Saruman and he is essentially powerless after that, even though he shows up again at the end to put the Hobbits over some more.
The Lord of the Nazgul is the one who leads Sauron's army at the Siege of Gondor, but the closest you are going to get to what you want is Gollum.
And the Ring is not inanimate, it changes in both size and weight, and speaks. It is not just a ring. It is a part of Sauron himself. It has a mind of its own.