Early life

Hill was born in Blackley, Manchester. He was brought up in a Catholic family of miners. 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.

Career

Boys from the Blackstuff

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

With his bemused brood of kids never let out of his sight, Bernard Hill's powerful depiction of a man crumbling before the audience's eyes brought him numerous awards but, as he later revealed, almost "drove him to the edge of insanity".

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 up for Hill 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 Dr. Hawthorne. Hill then went down with the ship when he played Captain Edward J. Smith on the ill-fated 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.

Hill is one of the few actors who have acted in three films that went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. He did this with Gandhi (1982), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

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).

Due to his affinity and links to the region, along with his extensive CV in film, Hill was announced as a new patron and judge of the Norwich Film Festival, that was held on March 2012.

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.

Hill appears as the Duke of Norfolk in the 2015 six part BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall.

Personal life

Hill currently lives in Suffolk. He is married to Marianne Hill, and has a son named Gabriel.

Selected stage and screen credits

Theatre

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
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	Dr. 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	Dr. 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

Television

Year	Programme	Role	Episodes	Broadcasting Network	Notes
1973	Hard Labour	Edward, Mrs Thornley's son	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	5	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
	Henry VI	Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York	1	BBC
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
1994	Once Upon a Time in the North	Len Tollit	N/A	BBC
1999	Great Expectations	Abel Magwitch	2	BBC
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
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	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
2008	World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King	Highlord Tirion Fordring
2010	Fable III	Sir Walter Beck

References and notes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]