Bernard Hill

Bernard Hill (born 17 December 1944) is an English film, stage and television actor. He is known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled "hard man" whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff and, more recently, as the Duke of Norfolk in the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall. He is also known for roles in films, including Captain Edward Smith in Titanic, King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and Luther Plunkitt, the Warden of San Quentin Prison in the Clint Eastwood film True Crime.

Bernard Hill
Hill in 2007
Born	17 December 1944 Blackley, Manchester, England
Nationality	English
Education	Xaverian College
Alma mater	Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1975–present
Spouse(s)	Marianne Hill
Children	1

Early life

Hill was born in Blackley, Manchester. He was brought up in a Catholic family of miners.[1] Hill attended Xaverian College, and then Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama at the same time as Richard Griffiths. He graduated with a diploma in theatre in 1970.[2]

Career

In 1976, Hill was seen as Police Constable Cluff in the Granada Television series Crown Court, the episode entitled "The Jolly Swagmen"

Boys from the Blackstuff

Hill first came to prominence as Yosser Hughes, a working-class Liverpudlian man ultimately driven to the edge by an uncaring system, in Alan Bleasdale's BBC Play for Today programme, The Black Stuff, and its series sequel, Boys from the Blackstuff.[2] His character's much-repeated phrase Gizza job ("Give us a job")[2] became popular with protesters against Margaret Thatcher's government, because of the high unemployment of the time.[3]

Later roles

Hill then appeared as Sergeant Putnam in Gandhi (1982), directed by Richard Attenborough. Though Hill did not figure prominently in the cast, he benefited from being part of an Oscar-winning film. Next for him was Roger Donaldson’s The Bounty (1984), a fourth dramatisation of the famed mutiny on HMS Bounty.

He had previously taken smaller parts in a number of British television dramas, appearing in the acclaimed I, Claudius in 1976 as Gratus, the no-nonsense soldier of Caligula's bodyguard who drew Claudius from his hiding-place in the palace, and presented him as the proper heir to the empire, and also as Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York in the BBC Television Shakespeare 1982 productions of Shakespeare's Henry VI plays.

In 1985, he played the lead role in a TV dramatisation of John Lennon's life, A Journey in the Life. In addition to TV roles, Hill appeared on stage in The Cherry Orchard, and the title roles in Macbeth and A View from the Bridge.

Hill then received critical acclaim for his performance as Joe Bradshaw in Shirley Valentine (1989), about a Liverpool housewife (Pauline Collins) who was a former anti-establishment rebel and engages in an extramarital affair. Hill added more prominent films to his resume, including Mountains of the Moon (1990), Skallagrigg (1994) and Madagascar Skin (1995).

In the mid-1990s, Hill began appearing in films more regularly. His first major role came in The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), starring Val Kilmer as a bridge-building engineer who must trust a big game hunter (Michael Douglas) despite their mutual animosity; Hill portrayed the role of David Hawthorne. Hill then went down with the ship when he played Captain Edward J. Smith in Titanic (1997), by James Cameron, with whom Hill got along quite well — an experience not shared by most working on the film. Being in the then biggest grossing film of all time attracted attention to his career, as Hill became more sought-after for more prominent parts.

Hill played Philos in The Scorpion King (2002), starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Michael Clarke Duncan and Kelly Hu.

Hill became known to a worldwide audience when he was cast in the role of King Théoden of Rohan in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy based on Tolkien's novel of the same name. Before casting him as King Théoden, director Peter Jackson considered Hill for the part of Gandalf. When he was due to leave the set at the end of production, Jackson gave Hill two gifts, Théoden's helmet and sword Herugrim.

At the 2006 BAFTA TV Awards and International Emmy Award, Hill was nominated for his portrayal of David Blunkett in the one-off satirical drama, A Very Social Secretary.

He held a minor role in the 2008 film Valkyrie, as the commanding general of the German Afrika Korp X Panzer Division, and as a voice actor for Sir Walter Beck in Fable III (2010).[4]

He plays Samuel Cotton, who runs a sweet factory with his son in the 2014 three-part BBC drama series about Manchester From There To Here.[5]

Hill appears as Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk in the 2015 six-part BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall.[6]

Personal life

He is married to Marianne, with whom he has a son named Gabriel. He lives in Suffolk.[2] He is a longtime supporter of Manchester United FC. In 2019 he received an honorary degree from the University of East Anglia.[7]

Selected stage and screen credits

Theatre

Hill at a Lord of the Rings convention in Bonn, Germany, October 2004

Year	Play	Role	Theatre
1974	John, Paul, George, Ringo... and Bert	John Lennon	Lyric Theatre, London
1978	Twelfth Night	Toby Belch	Young Vic, London
1983	Short List	Howard	Hampstead Theatre, London
1984	The Plough and the Stars	Fluther Good	Royal Exchange, Manchester
1986	Macbeth	Macbeth	Haymarket Theatre, Leicester
1989	The Cherry Orchard	Lopakhin	Aldwych Theatre, London
1990	Gasping	Sir Chiffley Lockheart	Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London
1995	A View from the Bridge	Eddie Carbone	Strand Theatre, London

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1975	It Could Happen to You	Syph	Film also known as Intimate Teenage Secrets
1976	Trial by Combat	Blind Freddie	Film also known as Dirty Knights Work
1978	The Sailor's Return	Carter
1978	The Spongers	Sullivan
1982	Gandhi	Sergeant Putnam
1983	Squaring the Circle	Narrator	Documentary
	Runners	Trevor Field
1984	The Bounty	Cole
1985	Restless Natives	Will's father
	The Chain	Nick
	Samson and Delilah	Willie Naknervis
1986	Milwr Bychan	Officer	Film also known as Boy Soldier
	New World	John Billington
	No Surrender	Bernard
1987	Bellman and True	Hiller
1988	Drowning by Numbers	Henry Madgett
1989	Shirley Valentine	Joe Bradshaw
1990	Mountains of the Moon	David Livingston
1991	The Law Lord	Martin Allport
1992	The Name of the Game	Ignatius "Iggy" Smith	Film also known as Run Rabbit Run and Double X
1993	Shepherd on the Rock	Tam Ferrier
1994	Skallagrigg	John
	Drug Taking and the Arts	Presenter and narrator	Documentary
1995	Madagascar Skin	Flint
1996	The Ghost and the Darkness	David Hawthorne
1997	The Wind in the Willows	Engine driver	Film also known as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
	Titanic	Captain Edward J. Smith	Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture One of two films in which Hill stars that have won 11 Oscars.
	The Mill on the Floss	Edwards Tulliver
1999	The Titanic Chronicles	Captain S. Lord
	The Criminal	Walker
	True Crime	Lunther Plunkitt
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Egeus	Film also known as Sogno di una notte di mezza estate
	The Loss of Sexual Innocence	Susan's father
2000	Blessed Art Thou	Frederick
	Einstein	Voice of Stalin	Film also known as The Furnace
	Going Off Big Time	Murray
2002	The Scorpion King	Philos
	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	King Théoden	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated – DVD Exclusive Awards for Best Audio Commentary Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003	The Boys from County Clare	John Joe
	Gothika	Phil Parsons
	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	King Théoden	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast National Board of Review Award for Best Cast Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast The second film in which Hill starred, that won 11 Oscars
2004	Wimbledon	Edward Colt
	The Deal	Victor	Short film
2005	The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse	King William
2006	Joy Division	Dennis
	Save Angel Hope	Oscar Kurz
2007	Exodus	N/A	Film made for television. Broadcast on Channel 4
2008	Valkyrie	Unnamed German General in the desert
2008	Franklyn	Peter
2011	The Wraith	The Narrator	Short Film
2012	ParaNorman	The Judge	Voice only
2016	Golden Years	Arthur Goode

Information taken from filmreference.com,[8] netglisme.com,[9]

Television

Year	Programme	Role	Episodes	Broadcasting Network	Notes
1973	Hard Labour	Edward Thornley	N/A	BBC
1976	I, Claudius	Gratus	2	BBC
1978	Pickersgill People	N/A	1	BBC
1979	Telford's Change	Jack Burton	1	BBC
	The Black Stuff	Yosser Hughes	1	BBC
1980	Fox	Vin Fox	11	ITV
1982	Boys from the Black Stuff	Yosser Hughes	5	BBC	Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for Best Actor Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor
1983	Henry VI, Part 1	Duke of York	1	BBC	Part of the BBC Television Shakespeare series
	Henry VI, Part 2	Duke of York	1	BBC	Part of the BBC Television Shakespeare series
	Henry VI, Part 3	Duke of York	1	BBC	Part of the BBC Television Shakespeare series
	Richard III	First Murderer	1	BBC	Part of the BBC Television Shakespeare series
1984	Antigone	Messenger	1	BBC
1985	The Burston Rebellion	Tom Higdon	1	BBC
1993	Olly's Prison	Mike	1	BBC
1993	Telltale	Det. Sgt. Gavin Douglas	3	ITV
1993	Lipstick on Your Collar	Uncle Fred		Channel 4
1994	Once Upon a Time in the North	Len Tollit	N/A	BBC
1995	The Gambling Man	Frank Nickle	all	Tyne Tees TV
1999	Great Expectations	Abel Magwitch	2	BBC
1999	The Titanic Chronicles	Captain Stanley Lord	N/A
2001	Horizon	Narrator	9	BBC
2002	Timewatch	Narrator	1	BBC
2004	Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief	Himself	1	BBC
2005	A Very Social Secretary	David Blunkett	1	Channel 4	Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor Nominated – International Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actor
2006	Ocean Odyssey	Narrator	2		Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated
2007	Egomania	Narrator	1	Channel 4
2007	Bombay Railway	Narrator	2	BBC Series
2008	Sunshine	Granddad Crosby	3	BBC
2008	Wild China	Narrator	6	BBC	A BBC/CTV/Travel Channel co-production in association with Canal+
2009	Folk America	Narrator	3	BBC
2009	Ice Patrol	Narrator	4	National Geographic
2010	Old Trafford 100 Years	Narrator and Presenter	1	MUTV
2010	Five Days	Gerard Hopkirk	5	BBC
2010	Indian Hill Railways	Narrator[10]	3	BBC
2010	Canoe Man	John Darwin	1	BBC
2012	Falcón	Ramón Salgado	2	Sky	Episode "The Blind Man of Seville"
2014	From There to Here	Samuel Cotton	3	BBC
2014	Hope And Wire	Len Russell	3	TV3	New Zealand mini-series
2015	Wolf Hall	Duke of Norfolk	6	BBC
2015	Unforgotten	Father Robert Greaves	6	ITV

Video games

Year	Video game	Role	Notes
2010	Fable III	Sir Walter Beck

References and notes

1. "The OxStu talks Titanic, Daniel Day-Lewis and more with film star Bernard Hill". The Oxford Student.
2. "Manchester Films – Bernard Hill – a biography". BBC. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
3. "Out of work – and this time it won't just be Yosser who will feel the pain | News". Thisislondon.co.uk. 17 December 2008. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
4. "Behind The Voice Actors – Bernard Hill". Behind The Voice Actors.
5. "Stellar cast assemble for Peter Bowker's new BBC One drama, From There To Here". BBC Media Centre. BBC. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
6. "Norfolk". BBC. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
7. "A Titanic actor, climate change trailblazer and banking boss: Meet UEA's newest honorary graduates". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
8. "Bernard Hill Biography (1944–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
9. "Bernard Hill Filmography, Bernard Hill, movies, Pics, Photos, Filmography". Netglimse.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
10. Unit, Commercial Development. "Indian Hill Railway". ABC Shop. Retrieved 4 March 2017.

External links

• Bernard Hill at IMDb
• Bernard Hill at the BFI's Screenonline
• Bernard Hill at the TCM Movie Database
• Bernard Hill at AllMovie
• Interview with BBC Suffolk