Bernard Hill: Titanic and Lord of the Rings actor dies

On-screen character Bernard Slope, best known for parts in Titanic and Ruler of the Rings, has kicked the bucket matured 79.

He played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film and Ruler Théoden in the Master of the Rings.

His breakout part was in 1982 BBC TV dramatization Boys from the Blackstuff, where he depicted Yosser Hughes, a character who battled - and frequently fizzled - to adapt with unemployment in Liverpool.

He passed on early on Sunday morning, his specialist Lou Coulson confirmed.

With him at the time were his fiancee Alison and his child Gabriel.

Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, the performing artists who played the hobbits Frodo, Sam, Cheerful and Pippin in the Ruler of the Rings set of three, paid tribute to their co-star at Comedian Con in Liverpool.

Astin started by saying: "We adore him. He was courageous, he was clever, he was rough, he was irritable, he was beautiful."

Boyd described observing the set of three with Monaghan, saying: "I do not think anybody talked Tolkien's words as awesome as Bernard did. He would break my heart. He will be exclusively missed."

Alan Bleasdale, who composed Boys from the Blackstuff, said Hill's passing was a "extraordinary misfortune and too a incredible surprise".

"It was an astounding, mesmeric execution - Bernard gave everything to that and you can see it in all the scenes. He got to be Yosser Hughes."

Alan Bleasdale: 'I was frantic to work with him'

He included: "I was frantic to work with him. Everything he did - his entire strategy for working, the way in which he worked and his execution was everything that you seem ever wish for.

"You continuously felt that Bernard would live until the end of time. He had a extraordinary quality, physically and of personality."

TCD/Alamy Bernard Slope in Ruler of the RingsTCD/Alamy

In full stream as Ruler Théoden in the Master of the Rings

Getty Pictures Bernard Slope as Captain Edward James Smith in TitanicGetty Images

As Captain Edward James Smith in Titanic

Hill, who was from Manchester and lived in Suffolk, was due to return to TV screens in arrangement two of The Responder, a BBC dramatization featuring Martin Freeman, which starts airing on Sunday.

Lindsay Salt, chief of BBC Show, paid tribute to him, saying: "Bernard Slope bursted a path over the screen, and his long-lasting career filled with famous and exceptional parts is a confirmation to his extraordinary talent."

"From Boys from the Blackstuff, to Wolf Corridor, The Responder, and numerous more, we feel really regarded to have worked with Bernard at the BBC. Our contemplations are with his adored ones at this pitiful time."

In Boys from the Blackstuff, Slope drew laud for his abrasive depiction of Yosser Hughes, an strongly character who argued "Gizza [allow us a] work" as he looked for work.

That appear won a Bafta for best show arrangement in 1983, and in 2000 it was positioned seventh on a British Film Founded list of the best TV appears ever made.

Bernard Slope as Yosser Hughes in Boys From The Blackstuff

Yosser Hughes, played by Bernard Slope, was one of the most vital characters in 1982's Boys From The Blackstuff

Another of Hill's important BBC TV exhibitions came in the 2015 show arrangement Wolf Corridor, adjusted from Hilary Mantel's book around the court of Henry VIII. Slope depicted the Duke of Norfolk - an uncle of Anne Boleyn and an foe of Cardinal Wolsey.

In Dwindle Jackson's epic set of three The Master of the Rings, Slope joined the cast for the moment film, 2002's The Two Towers, and returned to the establishment for 2003's The Return Of The Lord, which picked up 11 Oscars.

Other parts in Hill's decades-long career included the 1976 BBC TV arrangement I, Claudius, an appearance in 1982's Gandhi, Shirley Valentine in 1989, The Scorpion Ruler in 2002 and 2008 Tom Journey film Valkyrie.

He was implied to be at Comedian Con Liverpool on Saturday, but had to cancel at the final diminutive, the tradition said in a post on X. As news of his passing broke, the coordinators said on the stage they were "shattered" at Hill's passing, and wished his family a "parcel of strength".

Scottish artist Barbara Dickson moreover paid tribute on X, saying he had been a "truly sublime actor".

She included: "It was a benefit to have crossed ways with him. Tear Benny x."