Bernard Hill: Titanic and Lord of the Rings actor die
Actor Bernard Hill, best known for roles in Titanic and Lord of the Rings, has died aged 79.
He played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film and King Théoden in the Lord of the Rings.
His breakout role was in 1982 BBC TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff, where he portrayed Yosser Hughes, a character who struggled – and often failed – to cope with unemployment in Liverpool.
He died early on Sunday morning, his agent Lou Coulson confirmed.
With him at the time were his fiancee Alison and his son Gabriel.
Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, the actors who played the hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, paid tribute to their co-star at Comic Con in Liverpool.
Astin began by saying: “We love him. He was intrepid, he was funny, he was gruff, he was irascible, he was beautiful.”
Boyd recounted watching the trilogy with Monaghan, saying: “I don’t think anyone spoke Tolkien’s words as great as Bernard did. He would break my heart. He will be solely missed.”
Alan Bleasdale, who wrote Boys from the Blackstuff, said Hill’s death was a “great loss and also a great surprise”.
“It was an astonishing, mesmeric performance – Bernard gave everything to that and you can see it in all the scenes. He became Yosser Hughes.” (BBC News)