With credits in blockbusters such as Titanic and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Bernard Hill has always been a bankable actor capable of making a role memorable. Sadly, the actor passed away on May 5, 2024.
Born Dec. 17, 1944, Hill began pursuing an actor career in the 1970s. After several small parts, the actor got his first breakthrough role in the 1979 television play The Black Stuff, where he played a working man pushed to the brink by the cruelties of Great Britain’s welfare state. Hill would reprise the role in the limited series Boys from the Blackstuff in 1982. Hill was also part of Clint Eastwood’s True Crime and shared the silver screen with Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas in The Ghost and the Darkness, both movies that helped cement his status as a rising Hollywood star.
While Hill has given many memorable performances, his two most well-known roles are Captain Edward Smith in Titanic and King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings. In Titanic, the actor gave surprising depth to a side character, exploring the agony of a captain who goes down with his ship during on what was supposed to be his last trip before retirement.
King Théoden, on the other hand, is a fan-favorite character in The Lord of the Rings films, remembered for his inspiring speech before the battle for Gondor that still gives the audience goosebumps every single time. Hill’s dedication to Théoden was so enormous that he even sustained multiple injuries on set, first fracturing his sternum and then slashing his ear with a sword while shooting – but people only remember Viggo Mortensen’s broken toe.
How did Bernard Hill die?
Hill’s agent, Lou Coulson, confirmed the actor passed away in the early hours of the morning. However, no cause of death has been revealed so far. The Titanic star was 79 years old and led a quiet life in Manchester.
Tragically, Hill’s death was announced a few hours before the premiere of Season 2 of The Responder on BBC One. Marking one of his last roles, the police drama will see the legendary actor working alongside Martin Freeman. Hill was also scheduled to show up at Liverpool’s Comic-Con this week. The event published a heartfelt note mourning the passing of the legendary Rohan King.
Hill marked the lives of millions of fans, and his work will keep echoing throughout eternity. One look at his glowing resume is enough to deduce his prowess as an actor, but here is another bit of trivia — Hill is the only actor to appear in two movies that won 11 Academy Awards: Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Beyond impressive, right?
I don’t know about you, but Hill’s King Théoden makes this writer, right here, return to Middle Earth quite often. Rewatching the trilogy will be a rather bittersweet trip down nostalgia lane from now on.