Bernard Hill dead: Titanic and Lord of the Rings star dies hours before TV return

Hill on Titanic in character
LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 19: The movie "Titanic", written and directed by James Cameron. Seen here, Bernard Hill as Captain Edward James Smith. Initial USA theatrical wide release December 19, 1997. Screen capture. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images) -Credit:CBS via Getty Images


Actor Bernard Hill - renowned for his roles in the Titanic and Lord of the Rings - has tragically passed away aged 79. Hill had an illustrious career as he played the role of Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-laden film, Titanic; he further garnered critical acclaim for many of his roles over his distinguished career.

His performances as King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings trilogy garnered much praise, as did his portrayal of Yosser Hughes in the legendary drama series Boys from the Blackstuff. This role saw him portraying Yossers struggle to deal with unemployment in Liverpool and marked a major breakthrough in Hill's acting career.

News of his passing was confirmed on the afternoon of May 5th, with his agent Lou Coulson announcing to the BBC that Hill died in the early hours of the morning. Interestingly, Hill was scheduled to appear on the small screen this evening in the second series of The Responder, a BBC drama featuring Martin Freeman, which premieres tonight.

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Grief-stricken fans took to social media to pay tribute after news of Hill's death was shared: "Very sad to hear of the death of Bernard Hill, creator of the most powerful performance of the 80s," one Twitter user opined (X), reports the Mirror.

"RIP Bernard Hill. His performance as Yosser Hughes on Boys from the Blackstuff was perfection and British television at it's best," another wrote, with musician Barbara Dickson adding: "It's with great sadness that I note the death of Bernard Hill. We worked together in John Paul George Ringo and Bert, Willy Russell marvellous show 1974-1975. A really marvellous actor. It was a privilege to have crossed paths with him. RIP Benny x".

"Some will be talking about this guy in Lord of the Rings, but it should really be the essential Boys from the Blackstuff. RIP the great Bernard Hill," one fan wrote as they looked back on Hill's stellar career in the wake of the actor's death. "Oh bloody hell, Bernard Hill's died. That man was awesome. A mesmerising actor," another penned as they paid tribute.

Away from his work, Hill was an avid Manchester United fan and received an honorary degree from the University of East Anglia in 2019. The late actor was married to Marianna Hill, an American actress best known for her work in Western films like El Condor and High Plains Drifter, and the couple shared a son named Gabriel and a daughter. They lived in Suffolk, England before Hill passed away.

Hill will grace the nation's television screens tonight, mere hours after the announcement of his passing, due to his involvement in the second series of the acclaimed police drama The Responder. Recounting how he landed the role of Tom, Hill remarked: "Well, it all came in a bit of a rush really and I found myself with the script pages for the character they were talking to me about playing, just Tom's scenes and I thought it could be really interesting to play and wondered what the rest of the script was like and thought it would be quite a good idea to find out, so I said yes! It turns out it was really good! Tony is a very talented writer, he's a real Scouse writer and writes with real honesty, which is great."

In addition, Hill shared his fondness for Liverpool, where The Responder was shot, reflecting on the city's significance to him. "Liverpool is one of my favourite places, I've got a great relationship with the city," Hill expressed during a promotional chat for the BBC series' second season. Adding: "I lived there for a long time and my daughter was born there so it's like my second home."

He recounted: "I went down to the Royal Court Theatre during filming on The Responder and I didn't know what was on so I just went in. The manager came over to where I was sitting and said, 'what are you doing here? ' I said, 'I'm doing a series', he said, 'right, well do you want to come and see the show' and when I looked it was Boys from the Black Stuff. I couldn't believe it! It's 40 years from when I did Boys From The Black Stuff and there I was back in Liverpool watching it on the stage."

Hill first made his mark as Yosser Hughes, the iconic working-class Liverpudlian character driven to desperation by an uncaring welfare system, in Alan Bleasdale's BBC Play for Today programme, The Black Stuff, and its subsequent series, Boys from the Blackstuff. His portrayal's catchphrase Gizza job ("Give us a job") became synonymous with the anti-Thatcher sentiment during Britain's era of soaring unemployment.

Subsequently, Hill landed the role of Sergeant Putnam in the Richard Attenborough-directed Gandhi (1982). This was followed by his appearance in Roger Donaldson's The Bounty (1984), which revisited the notorious mutiny aboard HMS Bounty.

Before these significant parts, he had taken on minor roles in several British television dramas, including playing Gratus in I, Claudius back in 1976. On the silver screen, Hill was known for his role as Captain Edward J. Smith in James Cameron's Titanic (1997), and starred alongside big names such as Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in The Scorpion King in 2002.

The British actor also portrayed King Theoden of Rohan in the second and third instalments of Peter Jackson's epic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, in 2002 and 2003 respectively.