Bernard Hill (17 December 1944 – 5 May 2024) was an English actor. He was known for his versatile performances 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), Restless Natives (1985), Shirley Valentine (1989), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), True Crime (1999), Valkyrie (2008), and ParaNorman (2012).

Early life and education

Bernard Hill was born in Blackley, Manchester, on 17 December 1944. He was brought up in a Catholic family of miners.

After attending Xaverian College in Rusholme, Hill initially started training to be a teacher. However, a classmate, Mike Leigh, who would later become a renowned writer and director, persuaded him to pursue acting. Hill enrolled at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama at the same time as Richard Griffiths. In 1970, Hill graduated with a Diploma in Theatre.

Career

Hill first came to prominence in 1980 as Yosser Hughes, a working-class Liverpudlian man ultimately driven to the edge by an uncaring welfare system, in Alan Bleasdale's BBC Play for Today programme, The Black Stuff, and its series sequel, Boys from the Blackstuff.

Hill then appeared as Sergeant Putnam in Gandhi (1982), directed by Richard Attenborough. Next for him was Roger Donaldson's The Bounty (1984), a fourth dramatisation of the mutiny on HMS Bounty. He had previously taken smaller parts in a number of British television dramas, appearing in I, Claudius, in 1976, as the character Gratus. starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. Hill then portrayed Captain Edward J. Smith in Titanic (1997), by James Cameron. He then played Luther Plunkitt, the Warden of San Quentin Prison, in the Clint Eastwood film True Crime (1999).

Hill was the voice of The Judge in the American stop motion animated comedy horror film ParaNorman in 2012. He played Samuel Cotton, who ran a sweet factory with his son in the 2014 three-part BBC drama series about Manchester From There to Here.

Hill appeared as Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, in the 2015 six-part BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall. Later in 2015, he starred as John Claridge in the British gangster movie North v South.

Personal life

Hill had a daughter from a relationship with Sue Allen, and a son from a relationship with Annabel Turner.

Hill was a longtime supporter of Manchester United. In 2019, he received an honorary degree from the University of East Anglia.

Hill, who was living in Reydon, Suffolk, died on 5 May 2024, aged 79.

Filmography

Film

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%"

|- style="text-align:center;"

! Year

! Film

! Role

! Notes

!

|-

| 1975

| It Could Happen to You

| Syph

| Film also known as Intimate Teenage Secrets

|

|-

| 1976

| Trial by Combat

| Blind Freddie

| Film also known as Dirty Knights Work

|

|-

| 1982

| Gandhi

| Sergeant Putnam

|

|

|-

| No Surrender

| Bernard

|

|

|-

| 1987

| Bellman and True

| Hiller

|

|

|-

| 1992

| The Name of the Game

| Ignatius "Iggy" Smith

| Film also known as Run Rabbit Run and Double X

|

|-

| Drug Taking and the Arts

| Presenter and narrator

| Documentary

|

|-

| 1995

| Madagascar Skin

| Flint

|

|

|-

| rowspan="4" |1999

| The Criminal

| Det. Insp. Walker

|

|

|-

| Eisenstein

| Stalin

| Voice only; Film also known as The Furnace

|

|-

| Going Off Big Time

| Murray

|

|

|-

| 2015

| North v South

| John Claridge

|

|

|-

|2023

|The Moor

|Thornley

|

|

|}

Television

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%"

|- style="text-align:center;"

! Year

! Programme

! Role

! Episodes

! Broadcasting Network

! Notes

!

|-

| 1973

| Hard Labour

| Edward Thornley

| N/A

| rowspan="6" | BBC

|

|

|-

| 1980

| Fox

| Vin Fox

| 11

| ITV

|

|

|-

| 2006

| Ocean Odyssey

| rowspan="3" | Narrator

| 2

|

|Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 2007

| Egomania

| 1

| Channel 4

|

|

|-

| Bombay Railway

| 2

| BBC Series

|

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 2008

| Sunshine

| Granddad George Crosby

| 3

| rowspan="3" | BBC

|

|

|-

| Canoe Man

| John Darwin

| 1

|

|

|-

|Unforgotten

|Father Robert Greaves

|6

|ITV

|

|

|}

References and notes

  • Interview with BBC Suffolk