Bernard Hill (17 December 1944 – 5 May 2024) was an English actor. He was known for his versatile performances in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years.
Hill first gained prominence as the troubled hard man… Bernard Hill (17 December 1944 – 5 May 2024) was an English actor. He was known for his versatile performances in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years.
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). His appearances in Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), two of only three films to receive 11 Academy Awards, made him the only actor to have appeared in more than one film which hold that distinction. His other film roles include Gandhi (1982), The Bounty (1984), Restless Natives (1985), Shirley Valentine (1989), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), True Crime (1999), Valkyrie (2008), and ParaNorman (2012).
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