Bernard Hill, an actor best known for roles in “Titanic” and the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, has died at the age of 79.
Hill infamously played Captain Edward Smith, who went down with his sinking ship in James Cameron’s history-making hit “Titanic,” and later took on JRR Tolkien’s literary classic when he starred as Theoden, King of Rohan in the book’s cinematic adaptation.
Hill’s agent Lou Coulson confirmed the news to the BBC on Sunday. The actor reportedly passed away in the early hours of May 5. His family is expected to release a statement imminently.
Hill was due to appear at Comic-Con in Liverpool, UK this week. Event producers put out a statement regarding his passing: “We’re heartbroken to hear the news of Bernard Hill’s passing. A great loss. Thinking of his family at this very sad time, and wishing them a lot of strength.”
Born December 17, 1944, the Manchester, UK-born actor was raised in a family of miners, yet found his way to drama school and the stage.
His breakout role came in 1979 as a desperate blue-collar worker in the BBC film “The Black Stuff” and again three years later in “Boys from the Black Stuff.” His character, Yosser Hughes, coined the catchphrase “gizza job” which became an ode to the disenfranchised working-class community under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Great Britain.
Alan Bleasdale, who wrote the Bafta-award winning “Black Stuff” sequel, told the BBC his family was “heartbroken” to hear of Hill’s passing. “He was a big soft kid in many ways — very easy and very gentle with children,” said the screenwriter, whose children acted alongside Hill in the 80s drama.
“He was like their second dad — they loved him, they adored him,” Bleasdale added. “He lived around the corner and, when he wasn’t working, he was always at ours.”
Hill’s notoriety had stretched across the pond by the 1980s and 90s with roles in the biopic “Gandhi,” starring Sir Ben Kingsley, and action-thriller “The Ghost and the Darkness,” opposite Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas.
And few actors can claim to have worked on such lauded films as “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” each earned 13 and 11 Academy Awards respectively.
Reflecting on his work in the second and third of the fantasy trilogy, Hill said, “I loved every minute of every day that I was on Lord of the Rings.”