Bernard Hill, ‘Titanic’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ star, dead at 79
Bernard Hill, the English actor best known for his performance as King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings series, has died aged 79.
The decorated actor also portrayed Captain Edward Smith in James Cameron’s Titanic. Hill had the honour of being the only actor to have appeared in two movies, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Titanic, which have won 11 Oscars, a record in the history of the Academy Awards.
The Manchester-born thespian first made a name for himself in television during the late 1970s, when he appeared in The Black Stuff for the BBC, which had a huge societal impact as it tackled the effects of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership as Prime Minister on working-class people in Liverpool.
Furthermore, Hill also appeared in various stage productions throughout the ’80s, including leading turns in Macbeth, A View from the Bridge and Cherry Orchard. However, it was once Hill reached his 50s in the ’90s that his Hollywood career truly got going.
While his appearance in Lord of the Rings as King Theoden is his most notable role, he also impressed in The Ghost and The Darkness in 1996 opposite Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer, which proved he was capable of acting in major film productions, leading to his casting in Titanic.
In recent years, Hill had become less active as an actor but did appear in the ITV drama series Unforgotten in 2015. Additionally, during the autumnal years of his career, Hill also starred in From There to Here and Wolf Hall, which both aired on the BBC.
As of yet, no cause of death has been revealed, and his family are yet to comment on his sad passing. However, Hill’s death was confirmed by his agent, Lou Coulson, by the BBC.
In 2022, Hill made headlines when he criticised Amazon’s recent Lord of the Rings spin-off series Rings of Power series. When the actor asked whether he had seen Rings of Power, he replied, “No, not interested. It’s a money-making venture, and I’m not interested in watching that or being in it. Good luck to them and all that stuff, but it’s not like the real thing.”
He added, “I think they were pushing it when they made The Hobbit. The Hobbit’s a tiny book. They did it well – they did it really, really well. They expanded it, [but] I think you can only stretch a piece of elastic so far.”
This is a developing story.
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