The cast of The Lords of the Rings have paid tribute to their co-star Bernard Hill, who has died aged 79. The actor – who played King Théoden in Peter Jackson’s trilogy – passed away early on Sunday morning.
Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Sean Astin, who played the four hobbits in the films, said goodbye to their “funny, gruff, beautiful” friend. They told Comic Con fans in Liverpool they had lost a “family member”.
Hill had been due to appear at the Merseyside event but had pulled out.His co-stars from the films, based on JRR Tolkien’s classic fantasy novels, stood up together on stage to share their thoughts on his passing.
Astin, who played Frodo’s faithful companion Samwise Gamgee in the trilogy, began by saying: “So we lost a member of our family this morning, Bernard Hill passed, King Théoden.
“So we want to take a moment before we walk off the stage to honour him. We love him. He was intrepid, he was funny, he was gruff, he was irascible, he was beautiful.”
Boyd, who played Pippin, recounted watching the trilogy with Monaghan, saying: “I don’t think anyone spoke Tolkien’s words as great as Bernard did. The way he grounded those words in realism.He would break my heart. He will be solely missed.”
Hill’s fiancee Alison and son Gabriel were with him when he died.The Manchester-born actor joined the cast of The Lord of the Rings for the second film in the trilogy, 2002’s The Two Towers, and returned to the franchise for 2003’s The Return Of The King, which picked up 11 Oscars.
He was also well known for his role as Captain Edward Smith in Titanic.But Hill’s breakout role was in 1982 BBC TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff, where he portrayed Yosser Hughes, a character who struggled – and often failed – to cope with unemployment in Liverpool.
Alan Bleasdale, who wrote Boys from the Blackstuff, said Hill’s death was “a great loss and also a great surprise”.
“It was an astonishing, mesmeric performance – Bernard gave everything to that and you can see it in all the scenes. He became Yosser Hughes. Alan Bleasdale: ‘I was desperate to work with him’
He added: “I was desperate to work with him. Everything he did – his whole procedure for working, the manner in which he worked and his performance was everything that you could ever wish for.
Source: BBC
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