Death of Bernard Hill: the actors of “Lord of the Rings” pay a vibrant tribute to King Theoden

Actor Bernard Hill, known for his roles in “The Lord of the Rings” and “Titanic”, died on Sunday May 5 at the age of 79.

“We will never forget you”. It is with these words that the actor Elijah Woodlegendary interpreter of Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, paid tribute to Bernard Hill, who played the King of Rohan, Theoden, in Peter Jackson’s adaptation. The British actor died this Sunday, May 5 at the age of 79, his agent announced, without giving further details on the causes of his death.

Elijah Wood is not the only one to have saluted the memory of “our friend, our king”, who “had a gentle heart […] and always remained true to himself.” At Liverpool Comic Con this weekend, other actors from the trilogy Lord of the Rings wanted to pay a vibrant tribute to Bernard Hill: “We adored him: he was intrepid, he was funny, he was gruff, he was angry, he was magnificent”, commented Sean Astin (Sam) with humor, before Billy Boyd (Pippin) adds: “We were watching the films and I told Dom (Merry) that no one interprets the words of Tolkien as well as Bernard. He broke my heart and we will miss him dearly.”

A notable supporting role in cinema

Born in 1944 in Manchester, Bernard Hill has played in the theater, on television and in the cinema. He was revealed in England in the 1970s, in the multi-award winning television series Boys from the Blackstuffin which he played the unemployed Yosser Hughes.

It was on the big screen that he was best known internationally, playing memorable supporting roles in the seventh art: King Theoden of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings (the last two films from 2002 to 2003) therefore, but also Captain Edward Smith in Titanic (1997). Furthermore, Bernard Hill’s face could be seen in other works, such as in At the sources of the Nile by Rob Rafelson (1990) or Found guilty of Clint Eastwood (1999).