Bernard Hill, actor with key roles in The Lord of the Rings and Titanic ...
British actor Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and went down with the ship as the captain in Titanic, has died.
Hill, 79, passed away on Sunday morning, agent Lou Coulson said.
Hill joined The Lord Of The Rings franchise in the second film of the trilogy, 2002's The Two Towers, as Théoden, King of Rohan. The following year, he reprised the role in Return of the King, a movie that won 11 Oscars.
In one of the film's most memorable scenes, Hill's character fires up his overmatched forces by delivering a battle cry on horseback that sends his troops thundering downhill toward the enemy and his own imminent death.
Bernard Hill's performance as King Théoden in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy garnered critical acclaim.(Supplied: New Line Cinema)
"Arise, arise, riders of Théoden!" Hill hollers.
"Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride for ruin and the world's ending! Death! Death! Death!"
In Titanic, Hill played Captain Edward Smith, one of the only characters based on a real person in the 1997 tragic romance starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
The film also won 11 Academy Awards.
As the doomed ship takes on water, Hill's character silently retreats to the wheelhouse. As the cabin groans under the pressure of the waves, he takes a final breath and grabs the wheel as water bursts through the windows.
Born on December 17, 1944, Hill grew up in Manchester, England.
After a theatre diploma in 1970, his first big role was Yosser Hughes in the 1982 miniseries Boys From the Blackstuff, about five unemployed men.
He was nominated for an award in 1983 from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for the role, and the show won the BAFTA for best drama series.
During a career spanning several decades, Hill was seen in numerous British television series from I, Claudius; Crown Court; and Jackanory in the 1970s and 80s, to Wolf Hall in 2015, which won the BAFTA for best drama series.
Hill, pictured in 2014, built a "long-lasting career filled with iconic and remarkable roles".(Reuters: Tyrone Siu)
Hill will also be remembered for films like A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999), The Scorpion King (2002), Valkyrie (2008), and ParaNorman (2012).
His death came the same day the second series of the BBC drama The Responder was to air, in which he played the father of the show's star, Martin Freeman.
"Bernard Hill blazed a trail across the screen, and his long-lasting career filled with iconic and remarkable roles is a testament to his incredible talent," Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, said.
"Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this sad time."
Hill leaves behind his wife Marianna and son Gabriel Hill.
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