British actor Bernard Hill — who played King Théoden of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings movies as well as the captain who heroically goes down with the ship in Titanic — has died at age 79.
Hill died Sunday morning, his agent Lou Coulson told the BBC News. No cause was given.
A reliable character actor whose gravitas led to his frequen casting as authority figures, Bernard Hill began his career in British theater and TV before segueing into film, where he eventually worked on major movies throughout the world.
He played supporting roles in Gandhi, The Bounty, Shirley Valentine, Mountains of the Moon, and The Ghost and the Darkness. He even played a California prison warden in the 1999 Clint Eastwood movie True Crime.
But it was his role as King Théoden of Rohan in Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings that made him a fanboy favorite.
His character first appears in The Two Towers as the decrepit captive of his evil adviser, Gríma Wormtongue. But magical intervention by Gandalf the White liberates Théoden and restores him to his former self, enabling him to lead the epic Battle of Helm’s Deep.
The Return of the King finds Théoden butting heads with his headstrong niece, Éowyn, whom he forbids from fighting alongside the men. Théoden is fatally injured in the climactic battle but reconciles with Éowyn, who has secretly ridden into the battlefield where she avenges her uncle’s death by slaying the Witch King.
Hill further endeared himself to hardcore LOTR fans by expressing his disdain for Amazon’s The Rings of Power series, which serves as a sort-of prequel to LOTR.
“No, not interested,” he said in 2022 when asked if he had watched the Amazon series, which has a reported cost of more than $1 billion. “It’s a money-making venture and I’m not interested in watching that or being in it.”
In Titanic, Hill played Captain Edward J. Smith, the real-life British naval officer who chose to stay with the ship as she sank on her maiden voyage in 1912.
In a 2022 interview for the movie’s 25th anniversary, Hill recalled getting along with director James Cameron but said other actors didn’t. He also said the biggest joy was working with co-star David Warner, who plays the evil Caledon Hockley’s personal assistant.
“David Warner was massively instrumental in me becoming an actor in the first place,” Hill told Metro.co.uk. “He did Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and it was just breathtaking.”
Hill’s survivors include his wife, Marianna, and their son, Gabriel.
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