Tight upper lip: Hill as Captain Edward Smith in Titanic Photo: LMK Media
The death of actor Bernard Hill at the age of 79 deprives Britain of one of its most versatile and talented actors. His passing is made even sadder by the fact that he was set to be seen on television tonight as Martin Freeman's father in the second series of The Defendant. Hill hasn't appeared in film or television as often in the last few years as he did during his heyday, either by choice or circumstance, but when he did appear in something, there was no doubt that he would add a remarkable degree of class and conviction in whatever role he played. From Shakespeare and Arthur Miller to big-budget special-effects fantasy, Hill was guaranteed to inject a weak project with gravitas and dazzling grandeur.
For an extremely modest and unassuming man who shunned celebrity circles, he would no doubt be amused that his two most famous roles came in two films that each won 11 Oscars: the billion-dollar giants Titanic and The Lord of the Rings : Return of the King. Hill gave amazing performances in both of them and showed Hollywood his worth as a fine character actor. However, there was another, less widely known work that may have resonated more with him, given its quieter nature. Watching Bernard Hill perform, it was rare to see acting with a capital A; instead, it was about seeing someone fully inhabit the character without showing off. Here are five of his best watches.
The Boys from Blackstuff (1982)
Hill began his career performing on stage and in supporting television dramas, but it was his early role as Jimmy «Yosser» Hughes in Alan Bleasdale's legendary social realist television series that first established him as a major actor. As the moustachioed, hapless and perpetually unemployed Hughes, Hill paid tribute to his battered and fumbling career of begging for work amid Thatcher's enterprises. His catchphrases, including «Working at Gizza,» were both funny and pathetic, but Hill's skill was in making Yosser more sympathetic than pathetic, even though he was denied the standard happy ending that could have been imposed on this character by a lesser writer.
'Gizza job!': Hill in the role Yosser Hughes in Shirley Valentine's «Black Stuff Boys» (1989)Willie Russell's one-woman monologue was open to film, and it took a distinguished actor to hold his own against Pauline Collins as the eponymous Shirley, disillusioned with her lot and desperate to escape. Hill, who plays her mindlessly controlling husband Joe, excels at conveying the character's casual sexism and entitlement and plays much of it for everyone's laughs; he manages to make the scenes in which he reacts to his wife's atypical flight to Greece, dictated by menopause or a midlife crisis, seem genuinely funny rather than just boorish.
However, he is also offered redemption at the end when he finally heads to her and realizes that she is her own independent human being and not his chattel. Roger Ebert wrote in a negative review: «When he follows his wife to Greece at the end of the film, there are several moments that are so true that others can see them.»
Husband against wife: Hill with Pauline Collins in the film «Shirley Valentine» Photo: Alami «Titanic» (1997)
From Blackstoff to the most expensive film of all time is quite a long run in anyone's career, but if anyone could pull it off, it was Hill. . Resplendently gray-bearded and with a taut upper lip like the real-life Titanic captain Edward Smith, Hill excels at conveying the slight pomposity but also the enormous decency and eventual sacrifice of Smith, who sank with his ship in one of the film's most moving scenes.
His mega-success launched Hill's short and unlikely career as a Hollywood character actor. He always remained deeply optimistic about the experience of working on notoriously difficult and problematic shoots; he commented that what he enjoyed most about the role was the opportunity to work with his friend and former colleague David Warner, and that the experience of making it was «kind of a group thing… everyone really liked each other and there was no tension.» It was very intimate.»
The Two Towers/Return of the King (2001/2002)
While Smith was a noble man, Hill's performance in the second and third Lord of the Rings films as King Théoden was heroic, although not without its own arc. The viewer is introduced to him at the mercy of Saruman through the evil Serpent's Tongue, and when the spell is broken, Théoden is allowed to march against the forces of evil and stand shoulder to shoulder with Gandalf, Aragorn and the rest of them.
In the third film, Hill gets one of the most memorable moments of the trilogy — the battle scene on the Pelennor Fields; no longer the weakened figure he once was, he lets out a stirring battle cry («Ride now, ride now! Ride to destruction and the end of the world!») as he leads the Rohirrim forces in a battle of death or glory. an accusation against seemingly impossible odds. Two decades later, the film remains incredibly compelling, and it's a testament to Hill's powerful yet utterly nuanced performance that few viewers won't want to take up arms with him.
Under the Spell of Saruman: Hill as the weakened King Théoden with Brad Dourif as Wormtongue Photo: PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy A Very Social Secretary (2005)
Throughout his career, Hill has played real-life characters, from Captain Smith to the so-called «Canoe Man» John Darwin. Yet perhaps his most intriguing and effective role of this kind came when he played former Home Secretary David Blunkett in the comedy-drama about the furor that ensued when Blunkett had an affair with Kimberley Quinn, the former publisher of Spectator magazine, and his became embroiled in controversy when he was accused of offering her special treatment and thereby abusing his official position.
Surprisingly sympathetic: Hill as David Blunkett with Victoria Hamilton as Kimberley Quinn Photo: Channel 4/PA
While the show itself often devolves into broad farce, Hill's performance, for which he was nominated for both a BAFTA and an Emmy Award, neither of which he inexplicably won, is entirely sympathetic, showing the extent to which he was able to overcome his blindness to rise to the heights of political office, as well as how he could be figuratively blinded by lust. By the end of the series, when Blunkett realizes the folly of his actions, Hill gives a remarkable performance that, next to Yosser, may be the best he has ever played on screen.
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