Titanic and Lord of the Rings legend Bernard Hill died on Sunday aged 79.
The actor’s death comes hours before his return to television in Martin Freeman’s drama The Responder, which will air on BBC One tonight.
Bernard’s agent announced the sad news that Bernard had died in the early hours of this morning. His cause of death has not yet been announced.
The second series of The crime drama stars Martin Freeman as Chris Carson, a police response officer struggling to manage his mental health.
Bernard plays Tom in the drama’s second series, who is the father of Martin Freeman’s character Chris.
Titanic and Lord of the Rings legend Bernard Hill died at the age of 79 on Sunday – pictured in 2017
His death comes hours before his return to television in Martin Freeman’s drama The Responder, which will air on BBC One tonight.
Chris is trying to get better and move on, but when Barnes (Amaka Okafor) tricks him into doing a dodgy car stop, he becomes embroiled in a drug war between two of Liverpool’s top dealers.
Paying tribute, Lindsay Salt, BBC Director of Drama, said: “Bernard Hill blazed a trail on screen, and his enduring career full of iconic and notable roles is a testament to his incredible talent.
‘From Boys from the Blackstuff to Wolf Hall, The Responder and many more, we are truly honored to have worked with Bernard at the BBC. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this sad time.”
Speaking previously about signing up for the series, Bernard said: “Well, it was all a bit rushed and I came across pages of the script for the character they were talking to me about playing, just Tom’s scenes and I thought.” It could be really interesting to play and I wondered what the rest of the script would be like and thought it would be a really good idea to find out, so I said yes!
‘Turns out it was really good! Tony is a very talented writer, he is a real Scouse writer and writes with real honesty, which is great.”
Bernard revealed that he had a connection with his co-star Martin before they began filming, which allowed them to “get along very well.”
“I met Martin when I was in New Zealand and he was doing The Hobbit, so it was a good and useful experience to approach this and made it easy because we got on so well.
“I think we were a very good father and son, and it was nice to find the little parts of these characters that were kept hidden.
The second season of the crime drama stars Martin Freeman as Chris Carson, a police response officer struggling to manage his mental health.
Chris is trying to get better and move on, but when Barnes (Amaka Okafor) tricks him into doing a dodgy car stop, he becomes embroiled in a drug war between two of Liverpool’s top dealers.
Bernard (left) plays Tom in the second series of the drama, who is the father of Martin Freeman’s character Chris.
Bernard’s agent announced the sad news, he said, he died in the early hours of this morning.
Bernard returned to Liverpool to film the BBC One series, where he lived for many years.
Speaking fondly of the city, he said: ‘Liverpool is one of my favorite places, I have a great relationship with the city. I lived there for a long time and my daughter was born there, so it’s like my second home.
“I went to the Royal Court Theater during the filming of The Responder and I didn’t know what was going on, so I went in.
“The manager came up to where I was sitting and said, ‘What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘I’m doing a series,’ he said, ‘Well, do you want to come watch the show?’ and when I looked , it was Boys from the Black Stuff. I couldn’t believe it! It’s been 40 years since I did Boys From The Black Stuff and there I was in Liverpool watching it on stage.’
The actor was cast as Yosser Hughes, a working-class Liverpudlian in The Black Stuff and its sequel, Boys from the Blackstuff, in 1982.
The same year he took on 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, in which he played the Duke of York. .
He would later be cast as Captain Edward Smith in James Cameron’s mammoth film, Titanic.
In the 1997 film, he played the captain of the infamous ship on what would be his first and only voyage across the Atlantic, before going down with the ship after hitting an iceberg.
It marked the beginning of a late career renaissance for Bernard, who was later 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 beleaguered King of Rohan, who fights bravely to save his people from the forces of evil.
Bernard previously starred in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, playing King Theoden in the epic fantasy trilogy.
The actor also played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic (pictured).
Hollywood continued to call, with Bernard making appearances in the Dwayne Johnson film The Scorpion King, the Halle Berry horror film Gothika and the tennis-themed romantic comedy Wimbledon.
He continued to make regular appearances on British television, before being cast in the 2015 BBC drama Wolf Hall.
Bernard, an adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s historical fiction about the rise of Thomas Cromwell, played the Duke of Norfolk in the show’s first season, before being replaced by Timothy Spall in the second.
The actor lived in Suffolk and is survived by his wife Marianna Hill and son Gabriel.
