Bernard Hill, who played Titanic captain in 1997 film, dies at 79
Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and went down with the ship as the captain in the 1997 blockbuster “Titanic,” died May 5 at 79.
His agent, Lou Coulson, announced the death but did not provide further details.
Mr. Hill joined the Lord of the Rings franchise in the second film of the trilogy, 2002’s “The Two Towers,” as Théoden, King of Rohan. The following year, he reprised the role in “Return of the King,” a movie that won 11 Oscars.
In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Mr. Hill’s character fires up his overmatched forces by delivering a battle cry on horseback that sends his troops thundering downhill toward the enemy and his own imminent death.
In “Titanic,” Mr. Hill played Capt. Edward J. Smith, one of the only characters based on a real person in the 1997 tragic romance starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The film also won 11 Academy Awards.
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As the doomed ship takes on water, Mr. Hill’s character silently retreats to the wheelhouse. As the cabin groans under the pressure of the waves, he takes a final breath and grabs the wheel as water bursts through the windows.
Mr. Hill was born near Manchester, England, on Dec. 17, 1944, and grew up in a family of miners. He graduated in 1970 from what is now the Manchester School of Theatre and worked in theater and television, including a minor role as Gratus in the acclaimed 1976 BBC miniseries “I, Claudius.”
He came to wider attention as Yosser Hughes in “Boys From the Blackstuff,” a 1982 BBC miniseries about five unemployed men. He was nominated for an award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for the role, and the show won the BAFTA for best drama series.
He also had supporting roles in the films “Gandhi” (1982) and “Shirley Valentine” (1989) and on TV played the Duke of Norfolk in the miniseries “Wolf Hall” (2015).
A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.
His death came the same day the BBC drama “The Responder” began airing its second season, in which he played the father of the show’s star, Martin Freeman.
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