Bernard Hill’s final TV appearance in BBC’s The Responder leaves viewers in ‘tears’ hours after the iconic actor’s death was announced aged 79: ‘He was one of the best!’
Bernard Hill’s final TV appearance in BBC’s The Responder left viewers in tears on Sunday, just hours after the actor’s death at the age of 79 was confirmed.
The Lord Of The Rings star died early on Sunday morning, his agent said.
As well as appearing in the billion-pound fantasy LOTR trilogy, which won eleven Oscars, he also starred in Titanic and the iconic 1980s TV play The Black Stuff and its sequel that catapulted him to stardom.
In his latest role, Bernard played Martin’s Freeman’s estranged father in the BBC police drama, which returned for a second season on Sunday.
After the episode, emotional viewers wrote to
Bernard Hill’s final TV appearance in BBC’s The Responder (pictured) left viewers in tears on Sunday, just hours after the actor’s death at the age of 79 was confirmed.
The Lord Of The Rings star died in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to his agent (pictured in The Responder with co-star Martin Freeman)
‘Unexpectedly, I’m watching Bernard Hill in The Responder on television tonight. What great timing! Hats off sir, you were one of the best RIP’: Awe, watching The Responder and knowing Bernard Hill is in it RIP’.
Tributes have been paid to the actor, with praise for his ‘incredible talent’ and a career that saw him ‘take off at lightning speed across the screen’ following news of his death.
Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, said: ‘Bernard Hill has left a mark on the screen, and his enduring career of iconic and remarkable roles is a testament to his incredible talent.
‘From Boys from the Blackstuff to Wolf Hall, The Responder and many more, we feel truly honored to have worked with Bernard at the BBC. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this sad time.”
Actress and musician Barbara Dickson, who starred with him in a musical based on the Beatles, was among those to pay tribute, describing him as a ‘great actor’.
She captioned a photo of them together: ‘It is with great sadness that I learn of the death of Bernard Hill.
‘We worked together in John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert, (by) Willy Russell wonderful show 1974-1975.
‘Really a great actor. It was a privilege to cross paths with him. RIP Benny x.’
In his latest role, Bernard played Martin’s estranged father Freeman (pictured) in the BBC police drama, which returned for a second season on Sunday.
After the episode, emotional viewers took to ‘
The Manchester native had a varied on-screen career, finding fame acting in small realistic dramas before starring in films that earned billions worldwide.
Born in Blackley to a family of miners, he would go to acting school with Richard Griffiths before moving into television.
After small roles in Hard Labor and the poorly received but now critically acclaimed I, Claudius, he got his first big break in the early 1980s.
The actor was cast as Yosser Hughes, a working-class Liverpool man in The Black Stuff and its sequel, Boys from the Blackstuff, in 1982.
His character was a man struggling to do the right thing after becoming unemployed and coining the term ‘gizza job’ (meaning ‘give us a job’) became a common refrain among protesters in Thatcherite Britain.
The sequel won a Bafta for best drama series in 1983 and was listed as the seventh best TV show ever made on the British Film Institute’s list in 2000.
The same year he played the role of Sergeant Putnam in Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning biopic Gandhi, before starring in the 1983 BBC adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic play Henry VI, playing the Duke of York.
He would later be cast as Captain Edward Smith in James Cameron’s massive film Titanic.
Bernard rose to fame for his performance as Yosser Hughes in the 1982 BBC drama Boys from the Blackstuff
The actor also played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic (pictured)
It marked the start of a late career renaissance for Hill, who was subsequently cast by Peter Jackson in the role of King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (pictured)
In the 1997 film, he played the captain of the infamous ship on what would be its first and only voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, before going down with the ship after it struck an iceberg.
It marked the beginning of a late career renaissance for Hill, who was subsequently cast by Peter Jackson in the role of King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The actor was praised for his portrayal of the embattled King of Rohan, who bravely fights to save his people from the forces of evil.
Hollywood kept calling, with Hill making appearances in Dwayne Johnson vehicle The Scorpion King, Halle Berry horror film Gothika and the tennis-themed romantic comedy Wimbledon.
He continued to appear regularly on British television before being cast in the BBC drama Wolf Hall in 2015.
Adapted from Hilary Mantel’s historical fiction about the rise of Thomas Cromwell, Hill portrayed the Duke of Norfolk in the show’s first series, before being replaced by Timothy Spall in the second.
The actor lived in Suffolk and is survived by his wife Marianna Hill and their son Gabriel.