The veteran performer who played the Captain of the RMS Titanic died last Sunday, May 5, at the age of 79.
Born in Manchester in 1944, the veteran actor Bernard Hill began his career as a performer alternating his work in theater with roles of varying importance on British television and, although his first film roles took place in quite popular films, such as Gandhi and Mutiny on boardalong with Mel Gibson, his face was not made known to the general film public outside the United Kingdom until 1997, when He became world famous as Captain Edward Smith of the titular ship in James Cameron’s hit film Titanic.
Later we would also see him being an important part of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, in which he played the ancient king Théoden. Thus, Hill is the only actor to appear in two of the three films that have won the most Oscars in history, since both Titanic as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King share with Ben Hur the record of having won 11 awards.
Active until the end of his days, Bernard Hill passed away last Sunday, May 5, at the age of 79., although the causes of death have not been made public. Behind him, he leaves a career of more than 40 years acting, which he resumed after a few years of rest in 2023. His last work was the series The Responder.
“Bernard Hill is an excellent Captain Smith”declares James Cameron in the extras of Titanic about the work of the actor, who managed to captivate viewers with his interpretation of the captain of the enormous liner that would end up at the bottom of the ocean on its maiden voyage.
However, to fully appreciate how lucky I was to have Hill, The ambitious and perfectionist director had to understand what the actor’s working method was.which at the time of filming I didn’t quite see but then I was always surprised with the result:
He was an interesting character to work with because I always felt like he wasn’t doing enough. And then I would see the film (or the daily footage) and I would realize that everything was there, somehow it was in his eyes. I kept asking for more takes and trying to push him to react a little harder, but then I realized that he had made the right decision.
And it is that, Bernard Hill’s look says it all in Titanic: It is truly incredible how through his eyes it is reflected that he knows the tragedy is inevitable and that his liner will surely sink in the waters of the Atlantic. Luckily, Cameron, as much as he is one of the most important people in the cinema, knew how to realize this at the time.
