The prominent actor Bernard Hill, known for his roles in two out of three films that secured 11 Oscars, has passed away at the age of 79. He delivered memorable performances as Edward Smith, the captain of Titanic in the 1997 movie, and as King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003), a role he first portrayed in The Two Towers (2002). His characters were usually marked by a stern demeanor and the perfect balance of vulnerability and firmness.
Furthermore, Hill became notable on the small screen due to his heartbreaking yet formidable portrayal of Yosser Hughes, a father and unemployed laborer in the BBC series Boys from the Blackstuff (1982), penned by Alan Bleasdale. His character and the phrase associated with it — “Gizza job” — came to signify an entire period of time, echoing from football stands to high streets, and from educational films about job interview skills to pop songs.
Hill’s portrayal of Yosser wandering the streets in his desperate search for employment, with Bleasdale’s kids appearing as his despairing children, resonated profoundly with viewers. The character was dubbed as “a symbol of the desperation bred by unemployment” by The Liverpool Echo. The show was an offshoot from Bleasdale’s play The Black Stuff, which was written in 1978 and televised in 1980, and revolved around unemployed tar-layers. It was celebrated as a fervent outcry against the then Conservative Government led by Margaret Thatcher, although most of the series was penned prior to the Tories’ reign. Nevertheless, the series encapsulated a climate of anger and disillusionment.
The physical attributes of his character – a smeared Chaplinesque moustache, sunken eyes, and a gaunt complexion – manifested during Hill’s filming of The Black Stuff, when portraying Yosser with characteristic misogyny and a lack of compassion. He found it intriguing, albeit unnerving, that Bleasdale had created Yosser particularly for him, considering that Yosser mostly expressed himself via headbutts. Various individuals including a police officer, a snobbish supervisor served as his usual victims, but at times, Yosser himself would be the target, slamming his forehead against a wall or the inner side of a confessional while exclaiming, “I’m desperate, Dan.”
Hill decided as the character evolved to have Yosser dress only in black, and he used excessive white make-up for a striking contrast. It was challenging for Hill to detach himself from Yosser after filming, confessing to drinking more and laughing louder in 1983. He could find little time to unwind given he was playing a character teetering on the edge of madness.
Even after completion of the shoot, Yosser’s character left a deep impression on Hill. He felt that portraying Yosser unlocked his emotions, but also somewhat damaged his emotional shut-off valve, which would require a healing period.
Hill received his education at St John Bosco primary school and Xaverian college. After acting with an amateur theatre group during his quantity surveyor training, he enrolled at Rada in London. Hill continued to collaborate with Bleasdale, with their next project being the darkly humorous No Surrender (1985), based in a run-down Liverpool social club where Catholic and Protestant groups have been unintentionally scheduled for a New Year’s Eve party. Teaming up with Michael Angelis from Boys from the Blackstuff again, Hill portrayed a stern-faced bouncer with a rockabilly quiff brilliantly managing a deadpan expression.
Born in Blackley, Manchester, his father was a veteran of the royal navy who later turned to mining, whilst his mother found employment in the ICI plant kitchens in Blackley. He attended the St John Bosco primary school before pursuing his higher education at Xaverian College. His initial career path was quantity surveying, however acting with an amateur theatre group saw him applying to Rada in London.
After two unsuccessful attempts to join Rada, he switched his focus towards teaching and enrolled in the De La Salle College in Manchester. It was at this college that he established a connection with a part-time tutor; the writer-director Mike Leigh, who was already familiar with his performance from 1968 with the Salford Players and took note of his impressive talent. Nudged by Leigh’s encouragement, he dedicated himself to studying theatre at what was then called Manchester Polytechnic, today’s Manchester Metropolitan University. Among his peers was Julie Walters, who would later star alongside him in Boys from the Blackstuff.
He stayed with the theatre production when it relocated to London, finding success with a year-long run and securing the Evening Standard award for best musical. In Leigh’s television film Hard Labour (1973), Hill took on the role of a mechanic, burdened by the reality of life on an uninspiring estate with his wife, played by Alison Steadman. For two years he performed at the Everyman theatre in Liverpool and even became John Lennon for a 1974 performance in Willy Russell’s John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert; a musical exploring a fictional reunion of the Beatles.
This play also starred Trevor Eve as Paul McCartney, Antony Sher as Ringo Starr, and featured a Beatles soundtrack performed by Barbara Dickson. George Harrison was reportedly so unimpressed that he withdrew the rights to Here Comes the Sun. Despite any controversy, Hill continued with the show as it moved to London, enjoyed another successful year-long run, and won the Evening Standard award for best musical.
One of his memorable roles was as the Roman soldier Gratus, featured in two episodes of the popular BBC series I, Claudius (1976). Following this, he effortlessly transitioned into the Duke of York role for the BBC’s 1983 adaptation of the three parts of Henry VI, later making a return as the First Murderer in Richard III.
Hill’s career included diverse roles such as a sergeant in Gandhi (1982), a removal worker in the comic film The Chain, and portraying Lech Wałęsa in Tom Stoppard’s television movie Squaring the Circle (both 1984). He also took on the role of a coroner in Peter Greenaway’s eccentric artistic film Drowning By Numbers (1988). However, he was dismissed from the 1986 Sean Penn/Madonna film, Shanghai Surprise, due to a supposed conflict with Penn.
Hill’s greatest roles post-Yosser featured him as a down-and-out father in the suspenseful abduction film Bellman and True (1987). In Shirley Valentine (1989), a movie based on Russell’s play, he played a sloppy Liverpudlian whose spouse (Pauline Collins) escapes to Greece seeking romance and satisfaction.
His filmography also includes Dennis Potter’s six-part series Lipstick on Your Collar (1993), along with Michael Douglas in the lion-hunting adventure The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), Clint Eastwood’s suspense film True Crime (1999), as well as The Scorpion King (2002) from the Mummy franchise.
Hill received a BAFTA nomination for Boys from the Blackstuff before receiving a subsequent nomination for his performance as former home secretary David Blunkett in the BBC Drama A Very Social Secretary (2005), starring opposite to Robert Lindsay as Tony Blair. Furthermore, he portrayed the Duke of Norfolk in the TV adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall (2015), and most recently appeared as Martin Freeman’s character’s father in the second series of the BBC crime drama The Responder.
Gabriel, Hill’s son, and his daughter Jay, from an earlier relationship with Sue Allen, survive him. Hill’s marriage to fellow actor Marianna Schwarzkopf ended in divorce.