R.I.P. Bernard Hill, Lord Of The Rings and Titanic actor

Bernard Hill has died. Per Variety, his agent, Lou Colson, confirmed Hill’s death with no cause given. Known for highly dramatic and consequential roles in several of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, Hill died at the age of 79 with his fiancée and son by his side.

Born on December 17, 1944, in Blackley, Manchester, England, Hill hails from a strict family of Catholic miners who were bewildered by his chosen occupation. Nevertheless, Hill caught the acting bug in college after seeing David Warner in Hamlet.

Best known for his rousing speeches on the fields of Rohan and the grim responsibility of going down with the Titanic, Hill began his career in the mid-70s, working in the BBC dramas that awarded him his breakout. Following a role in the much-lauded BBC adaptation of I, Claudius, Hill starred as Yosser Hughes in two 1982 installments of the BBC anthology series Play For The Day, entitled The Blackstuff and its sequel, Boys From The Blackstuff. The role made Hill something of a meme for the time. His character’s catchphrase, “Gizza job” (Liverpudlian for “Give us a job”), became a popular slogan for dissidents of Margret Thatcher’s government.

“Everyone saw [Boys From The Blackstuff] on TV, the whole nation saw that,” Hill said in 2012. “People from the upper classes […] were attributing that as some kind of reference point for social behavior.”

The following year, he appeared in the Oscar-winning biopic Gandhi and continued starring on BBC television throughout the ‘80s, appearing in adaptations of Henry IV and Richard III. He also starred in the 1988 Peter Greenaway film Drowning By Numbers. Not all of the movies Hill starred in won Oscars, but starting with Gandhi, he became a good luck charm. If his movie was nominated for an Oscar, it won several. Gandhi won eight; Titanic and Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King won 11.

In 1997, director James Cameron cast him as Titanic’s Captain Smith. For a film swimming with iconic moments of doomed gravitas, his slow walk to the ship’s wheel as the supposedly unsinkable ocean liner sank ranks among the most tragic. Hill’s performance no doubt inspired his next leadership position as King Théoden in the Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers and The Return Of The King.

As Théoden, Hill delivered iconic speeches from the field of battle. His bountiful charisma and commitment helped ground much of the digital warfare he’d engage in, providing a genuine sense of responsibility to his kingdom. The actor gave director Peter Jackson’s adaptation an unmatched realism that cut through the swords and sorcery, injecting the film with real, believable stakes and tension.

“Rise, arise, Riders of Théoden!” he commanded as King Théoden. “Spears shall be shaken; shields shall be splintered. A sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises!”

Though he starred in several of the highest-grossing films in history, he returned to television after leaving Middle-earth, often lending his dignified voice to documentaries on British television. He also starred in the films True Crime, The Scorpion King, Valkyrie, and ParaNorman.
In 2012, he suggested he might soon leave the stage and screen. “Like a
horse at a water trough, you’re drinking the enjoyment of all that
stuff. I think I’ve lifted my head out of the water.”