Bernard Hill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill
Born	December 17, 1944 (age 62) Manchester, England
Notable roles	Edward J. Smith in Titanic King Théoden of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Bernard Hill (born December 17, 1944 in Manchester, England) is an English actor.

[edit] Biography

Hill attended Xaverian College, although at the time it was still a school. He came to prominence in the role of the unemployed Yosser Hughes, a working-class man ultimately driven to the edge by an uncaring system, in Alan Bleasdale's BBC Play for Today The Black Stuff (1979) and its more famous series sequel (also by Bleasdale), Boys from the Blackstuff (1982). His character's much-repeated phrase "giz a job" became popular with protesters against Margaret Thatcher's government, because of the high unemployment of the time. Previously, he had taken smaller parts in a number of British television dramas, notably appearing as the no-nonsense Roman soldier Gratus in I, Claudius (1976). Also on TV, he played the part of Tom Higdon in The Burston Rebellion (1985). He also played the coroner Madgett in Peter Greenaway's Drowning by Numbers (1988).

In addition to TV roles Hill appeared on stage in both 'The Cherry Orchard' (Aldwych Theatre) and in the title role in 'Macbeth' (Leicester Haymarket Theatre, 1986).

In James Cameron's 1997 movie blockbuster Titanic he plays the RMS Titanic's Captain Edward J. Smith.

He appeared as Egeus in the 1999 film version of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', this version being set in 19th Century Tuscany, alongside such celebrities as Kevin Kline, Calista Flockhart, Christian Bale, Michelle Pfeiffer and others.

Hill was cast in the role of King Théoden of Rohan in the second and third of Peter Jackson's movies based on Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Hill read famous quotations about religion and atheism in the 2004 documentary Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief by Jonathan Miller.

[edit] Trivia

When he was due to leave the set of The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson gave Hill two gifts, Théoden's helmet and sword Herugrim.
Hill is the only actor who can make the claim of having appeared in two of the three most Oscar-awarded movies of all times, Titanic and The Return of the King, both of which were awarded 11 Oscars (the first was Ben-Hur) and one of two actors to have been in two movies earning more than one billion US dollars at the box office (the other being Orlando Bloom, his Rings co-star). Interestingly, his birthdate coincides with The Return of the King's release date.
He is an experienced horseback rider.

Is currently a purple belt in karate.

Before being cast as King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson considered Hill for the part of Gandalf the wizard.

To date, he has appeared in three films that won the Oscar for Best Picture - Gandhi (1982), Titanic (1997), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

He has been in three different versions of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". In the animated mini series "Shakespeare: The Animated Tales", he voiced Nick Bottom. In the 1999 live action movie, he played Egeus. In the announced, animated Midsummer's Night, he will voice Theseus.