British actor Bernard Hill, best known for supporting roles in “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, has died, his family announced on Sunday.
“It is with the greatest sadness that we must announce that Bernard Hill, renowned actor known for his roles in ‘Titanic’ and ‘Lord of the Rings,’ passed away in the early hours of this morning at the age of 79,” his family said in a statement.
“He was with his fiancée Alison and his son Gabriel.”
Hill found fame in his home country starring in 1982’s “Boys from the Blackstuff,” a gritty drama about unemployed men that become symbolic of the Thatcher era.
But it was in smaller roles, lending quiet dignity to some of the most successful films in cinema history, that he will be most familiar to audiences.
In James Cameron’s 1997 multi-Oscar winning “Titanic”, Hill plays the ship’s Captain Edward Smith as a man haunted by his role in the tragedy and ultimately resigned to his fate.
We last see him alone, still clutching the ship’s helm, before the rising water bursts in through the windows.
