Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill (17 December 1944 – 5 May 2024) was an English actor. He was known for his versatile roles in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years.
Bernard Hill
Hill first gained prominence as the troubled hard man Yosser Hughes in Alan Bleasdale's Play for Today drama The Black Stuff (1980) and its sequel serial Boys from the Blackstuff (1982), the latter earning him a nomination for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He received an additional nomination for his role as David Blunkett in the drama A Very Social Secretary (2005), for which he was also nominated for an International Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actor. He also appeared on television in I, Claudius (1976), the BBC Television Shakespeare productions of Henry VI, Part 1, 2, and 3, and Richard III (all 1983), Great Expectations (1999), and Wolf Hall (2015).
Hill gained international recognition for his film roles as Captain Edward Smith in Titanic (1997) and Théoden, King of Rohan, in the second and third films of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2002–2003). He is the only actor to appear in both Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) which are two of only three films to receive 11 Academy Awards, making him the only actor to appear in more than one film which holds that record. His other film roles include Gandhi (1982), The Bounty (1984), Shirley Valentine (1989), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), True Crime (1999), Valkyrie (2008), and ParaNorman (2012).
Early life and education[edit]
Bernard Hill was born in Blackley, Manchester, on 17 December 1944.[1] He was brought up in a Catholic family of miners.[2]
After attending Xaverian College in Rusholme, Hill initially started training to be a teacher. However, a classmate, Mike Leigh, who would later become a renowned writer and director, persuaded him to pursue acting.[3] Hill enrolled at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama at the same time as Richard Griffiths.[4] In 1970, Hill graduated with a Diploma in Theatre.[5]
Personal life and death[edit]
Hill had a daughter from a relationship with Sue Allen, and a son from a relationship with Annabel Turner. At the time of his death, he was engaged to a woman named Alison.[11]
Hill was a longtime supporter of Manchester United.[17] In 2019, he received an honorary degree from the University of East Anglia.[18]
Hill, who was living in Reydon, Suffolk,[19] died on 5 May 2024, aged 79.[20] Tributes were paid to him by his Lord of the Rings trilogy co-stars, Boys from the Blackstuff writer Alan Bleasdale and musician Barbara Dickson.[20]