Actor Bernard Hill, who starred in Lord of the Rings and Titanic, died on Sunday, May 5, 2024. Hill was scheduled to appear at a comic convention in Liverpool on Saturday, but cancelled at the last minute. His manager William Blaylock announced his passing, but no cause of death was given. He was 79 years old.

In Titanic, he played Captain Smith who famously went down with the ill-fated luxury ship. He starred in the Lord of the Rings franchise as Théoden, the king of Rohan and Lord of the Mark.

Hill was born in Manchester, England on December 17, 1944. He studied theater in college and got his onscreen start in the BBC series, Play for Today, then he played Gratus in the I, Claudius miniseries. Hill’s breakout role was playing Yosser Hughes in the TV movie The Black Stuff, and the dramatic series that followed Boys from the Blackstuff.

He played Sergeant Putnam in the Gandhi biopic, he was Sir William Brandon in the Richard III TV movie, and he portrayed John Lennon in the John Lennon: A Journey in the Life TV movie. He was in First Knight, The Ghost and the Darkness, True Crime, he played Egeus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and he was in The Scorpion King.

Hill was in Gothika, Wimbledon, Valkyrie, voiced the judge in ParaNorman, he starred in the Wolf Hall miniseries, and he will appear in season two of the BBC drama The Responder.