Bernard Hill, the actor best known for roles in Titanic and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died at the age of 79.
Hill played Théoden, King of Rohan, in Oscar-winning fantasy trilogy, and the part of Captain Edward Smith in James Cameron’s disaster hit Titanic.
The news was confirmed to the BBC by the actor’s agent Lou Coulson, who said that he died in the early hours of Sunday morning (5 May).
A statement from Hill’s family is expected shortly.
Hill was also known for his role as Yosser Hughes in Alan Bleasdale’s seminal British drama Boys from the Blackstuff.
Between The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and Titanic (1997), Hill was the only actor in history to have appeared in multiple films with more 11 or more Oscar wins.
Born in Blackley, Manchester on 17 December 1944, Hill was raised in a Catholic family of miners, and studied at what is now the Manchester School of Theatre.
After small parts in the BBC’s I, Claudius and Hard Labour, Hill’s breakthrough role came in 1979, playing a working-class Scouse man pushed to the brink by the brutality of the British welfare state in The Black Stuff. He then reprised the role three years later in the serialised sequel, Boys From the Black Stuff.
His character’s catchphrase, “gizza job”, became widely recognisable throughout the British viewing public.
Film parts followed, including Gandhi, Mountains of the Moon, Skallagrigg and Madagascar Skin (1995).
In the 1990s, Hill’s profile in Hollywood continued to grow, with major parts in films such as The Ghost and the Darkness, opposite Val Vilmer and Michael Douglas.
In Titanic, Hill played the captain of the doomed vessel that sinks in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Hill’s character was introduced in the second Lord of the Rings film, The Two Towers. In the film, Theoden is a king who leads the people of Rohan.
Hill’s most recent role comes in the Martin Freeman police drama The Responder, which begins on BBC One this Sunday.
Folk musician Barbara Dickson also shared the news on Twitter, writing: “ 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.
