Bernard Hill | |
|---|---|
 Hill in 2004 | |
| Born | 17 December 1944 Blackley, Manchester, England |
| Died | 5 May 2024 (aged 79) |
| Education | Xaverian College |
| Alma mater | Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1970–2024 |
| Children | 2 |
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.
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, make 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).