- By Paul Gribben and Noor Nanji
- BBC News
Image source, Getty Images
Actor Bernard Hill, best known for roles in Titanic and The Lord of the Rings, has died aged 79.
He played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film and King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings.
His breakthrough role was in the 1982 BBC TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff, where he played Yosser Hughes, a character who struggled – and often failed – to cope with unemployment in Liverpool.
He died on Sunday morning, his agent Lou Coulson confirmed.
With him at the time were his fiancée Alison and his son Gabriel.
Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, the actors who played hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, paid tribute to their co-star at Comic Con in Liverpool.
Astin began by saying, “We loved him. He was intrepid, he was funny, he was rude, he was quick-tempered, he was beautiful.”
Boyd recounted watching the trilogy with Monaghan, saying: “I don’t think anyone spoke Tolkien’s words as well as Bernard. He would break my heart. We’ll just miss him.”
Alan Bleasdale, who wrote Boys from the Blackstuff, said Hill’s death was a “great loss and also a great surprise”.
“It was an astonishing, mesmerizing performance – Bernard gave it his all and you could see it in every scene. He became Yosser Hughes.”
He added: “I was desperate to work with him. Everything he did – his entire working procedure, the way he worked and his performance was everything you could want.
“You always felt that Bernard would live forever. He had great physical strength and personality.”
Image source, Getty Images
Hill, who was from Manchester and lived in Suffolk, was due to return to TV screens in the second series of The Responder, a BBC drama starring Martin Freeman, which begins airing on Sunday.
Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, paid tribute to him, saying: “Bernard Hill blazed a trail on screen, and his long career filled with iconic and notable roles is testament to his incredible talent.”
“From Boys from the Blackstuff to Wolf Hall, The Responder and many others, we feel truly honored to have worked with Bernard at the BBC. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this sad time.”
In Boys from the Blackstuff, Hill received praise for his courageous portrayal of Yosser Hughes, an intense character who begged “Gizza [give us a] work” while looking for work.
That show won a Bafta for best drama series in 1983, and in 2000 it came in seventh place on the British Film Institute’s list of the best TV shows ever made.
Another of Hill’s memorable BBC TV performances came in the 2015 drama series Wolf Hall, adapted from Hilary Mantel’s book about Henry VIII’s court. Hill portrayed the Duke of Norfolk – Anne Boleyn’s uncle and Cardinal Wolsey’s enemy.
In Peter Jackson’s epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, Hill joined the cast of the second film, 2002’s The Two Towers, and returned to the franchise in 2003’s The Return of the King, which won 11 Oscars.
Other roles in Hill’s decades-long career included the 1976 BBC TV series I, Claudius, an appearance in 1982’s Gandhi, 1989’s Shirley Valentine, 2002’s The Scorpion King and the 2008 Tom Cruise film Valkyrie.
He was due to be at Liverpool Comic Con on Saturday but had to cancel at the last minute, the convention said in a post on X. When news of his death broke, organizers said on the platform they were “heartbroken” at Hill’s death, and wished his family “a lot of strength.”
Scottish musician Barbara Dickson also paid tribute insaying he was a “really wonderful actor”.
She added: “It was a privilege to have crossed paths with him. RIP Benny x.”
