Titanic and Lord of the Rings star Bernard Hill dies at the age of 79
Bernard Hill, who starred in Titanic and Lord of the Rings, has died as the age of 79.
The actor, who played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film, died in the early hours of this morning, his agent has said.
A father-of-one, he became known to a generation for his portrayal of King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
In the process he starred in two films – Titanic and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King – which won 11 Oscars and crossed $1billion at the box office.
His passing comes hours before he was due to return to TV in Martin Freeman drama The Responder, which airs on BBC One tonight.
The Manchester native first rose to prominence in the early 1980s, when he starred as Yosser Hughes in Boys from the Blackstuff.
The thespian, who lived in Suffolk with his actress wife Marianna Hill, also had roles in the Richard Attenborough film Gandhi and the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall.
Bernard Hill portrayed King Theoden in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in 2002 (pictured)
The actor also portrayed Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic (pictured)
Bernard Hill had a varied screen career, coming to prominence acting in small down to earth dramas before going on to star in films that made billions worldwide. Pictured: Hill at the premier of ‘Gods Own Country’ in Edinburgh in June 2017
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