Bernard Hill

Bernard Hill

Birth : 1944-12-17, Manchester, England, UK

History

Born in 1944, Bernard Hill is a British actor, Known as a character actor of film, stage and television, having acted in nearly 130 projects. He is best known to British television viewers for playing Yosser Hughes in the groundbreaking 1982 TV series Boys from the Blackstuff. On film he has played Captain Edward John Smith in Titanic, King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and the Warden of San Quentin Prison in the Clint Eastwood film True Crime. Hill is the only actor to have appeared in more than one of the three films awarded 11 Oscars, and one of only three actors to have starred in more than one film grossing more than $1 billion USD, namely: Titanic and The Return of the King (the others being Orlando Bloom who also starred in The Return of the King, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean and Johnny Depp who also starred in Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as Alice in Wonderland). Hill has appeared in three films which have won Best Picture: Gandhi, Titanic, and The Return of the King.

Profile

Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill

Movies

Segunda Oportunidad
Peter
Interlude: City of a Dead Woman
Richard
A former opera singer, a priest and a bullfighter meet on the island of Patmos, seeking redemption; their encounter will affect each other’s lives irrevocably.
Inside CERN
Narrator
BBC Horizon follows the ups and downs of an outstanding story in particle physics. In June 2015, teams at CERN started running the large hadron collider at the highest energy ever. Rumours quickly emerged that they were on the brink of a huge discovery. An enigmatic bump in some data suggested a first glimpse of a brand new particle that could change our understanding of how the universe works.
Golden Years
Arthur
Fate, the pensions crisis and a steadfast refusal to accept the injustice of old age have contrived to force law abiding, retired couple, Arthur and Martha Goode into a life of crime.
Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary
Narrator
A dramatisation based on the exchange of letters between Mary Queen of Scots and her cousin Elizabeth I, detailing the hatred and obsession in their bitter rivalry. Expert historians examine and interpret the royals' motives for the animosity that lasted more than two decades, and which threatened to tear apart the reigning monarch and her kingdom.
North v South
John Claridge
For decades the criminal underworlds of the North and South bumped along begrudgingly. Like the Cold War, territories were respected out of the necessity to avoid apocalypse, with each side keeping tabs on the other’s capability. Such a precarious false harmony could not last forever. Now someone has crossed the line, and there’s no going back. An illicit love affair smolders, breaking taboo and threatening catastrophe at the smallest mistake. It is a romance of purest, unadulterated love, yet so forbidden that its discovery would wreak total carnage. The story is told through vignettes of strikingly original characters, with intertwining subplots that echo the complexity of life in the dog-eat-dog criminal underworld.
Reflections on Titanic
Self
An enthralling and fast-paced four-part documentary feature that covers the making of one of the last major Hollywood epics; Titanic. Cast and crew speak on setting the sinking of the ship against a classic romance. The feature also examines casting and the young couple headlining the film, DiCaprio's and Winslet's on-set friendship and their differing acting styles, the expansive sets and filming locations, the authenticity of the recreated ship, James Cameron's work and dedication, and budgeting. And many more aspects of the film are overviewed.
Outpost 11
Cranleigh
Set in an alternative past where steam power still rules the world, Outpost 11 is the story of three soldiers manning a remote listening post in the Arctic Circle. One day the warning light goes off unexpectedly and their world is plunged in to chaos. Albert, Mason and Graham must fight the isolation, madness and arctic spiders to survive. Think 'The Thing' plus 'How I Ended this Summer' mixed with 'Videodrome.'
ParaNorman
Judge Hopkins (voice)
In the town of Blithe Hollow, Norman Babcock can speak to the dead, but no one other than his eccentric new friend believes his ability is real. One day, Norman's eccentric uncle tells him of a ritual he must perform to protect the town from a curse cast by a witch centuries ago.
Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron
Captain EJ Smith
James Cameron brings together some the world's leading Titanic experts, including engineers, naval architects, artists and historians, to solve the lingering mysteries of why and how the 'unsinkable' ship sank.
The Kid
Uncle David
Based on the real life story of Kevin Lewis, the film follows his childhood of abuse, his descent into a life of crime and the way he put his life together again afterwards.
Canoe Man
John Darwin
The story of the "Canoe Man" John Darwin who faked his own death and tried to start a new life with a false identity.
Valkyrie
General - Desert Sequence
Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.
Franklyn
Esser
Set between the parallel worlds of contemporary London and the futuristic faith dominated metropolis of Meanwhile City, Franklyn weaves a tale of four souls, whose lives are intertwined by fate, romance and tragedy. As these worlds collide, a single bullet determines the destiny of these four characters.
Exodus
Narrator (voice)
Exodus charts the decline of the Protestant population from Derry’s Cityside - which saw up to one in five of the City’s population leave their homes over a thirty year period. Directed and produced by Vinny Cunningham and John Peto, Exodus is the final film in the three part trilogy that commenced with Battle of the Bogside and No Go: Free Derry.
Titus: The Gorilla King
Narrator
The compelling story of one of the most successful mountain gorillas that has ever lived - a huge silverback called Titus. The programme starts in 1967, when the researcher Dian Fossey first made contact with a group of mountain gorillas in Rwanda. She opened up a window on to their secret lives. Forty years on, this film reveals the complete and dramatic life story of one individual animal. Titus's father was murdered by poachers in front of his very eyes. His mother abandoned him in the subsequent chaos. His family disintegrated. He should have died. But we reveal how Titus survived against all the odds. Titus's present day trials and tribulations take the viewer back in time to reveal key moments in Titus's history. Using testament from eyewitnesses, the film relives one individual mountain gorilla's extraordinary battle for survival.
Save Angel Hope
Oscar Kurz
Con artists profit from a charity campaign to raise money for a fictitious hospital.
Exodus
Pharoah Mann
The story of Exodus is relocated to the seaside town Margate. Moses lives in the Promised Lands with his adoptive parents, until he finds his mother in the shanty town, Dreamland, where she’s been ghettoised with other ‘undesirables’. He takes on his father, Pharaoh, and leads a radical campaign to liberate the people of Dreamland.
The Heart of the Earth
Sr. Crown
Tensions mount in an Andalusia mining town between local Spanish workers and their British employers.
JFK's Women: The Scandals Revealed
Self - Narrator (voice)
JFK enjoyed a number of sexual liaisons that could have ended his political career, but his brother Bobby always managed to keep the truth from the press. This explosive documentary focuses on four women who could have ended JFK’s presidency, and the deal the brothers made with J Edgar Hoover to stay in power.
Joy Division
Dennis
A teenage orphan fights against the Red Army at the end of WWII and in the aftermath is 'adopted' by a Commissar. Years later he is sent to London during the Cold war to work for the KGB, where he questions his life.
No Go: The Free Derry Story
Narrator (voice)
On the 14th August 1969 the British Army were deployed onto Northern Ireland’s streets for the first time, to relieve an exhausted RUC in the wake of the Battle of the Bogside. As they entered the city the troops were confronted with a ring of barricades surrounding the Bogside area and manned by the rioters, presenting them with an instant dilemma – to attempt to remove the barricades and provoke a confrontation, or to leave the barricades intact and allow the Bogside to remain beyond official law & order?
Cruel Sea: The Penlee Lifeboat Disaster
Narrator (voice)
A moving documentary made to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster on 19 December 1981. The eight-man crew of the RNLB Solomon Browne, the lifeboat from the Penlee station in Mousehole, Cornwall, put to sea in an exceptionally severe gale to rescue the five-man crew of the MV Union Star, a cargo ship whose engines had failed two miles off the coast and which was in danger of being swept onto the rocks. The Solomon Browne was initially able to rescue the captain's family and one of the crew from Union Star but, as they attempted to rescue the captain and the remaining crewmate, radio contact with the Solomon Browne was lost and both crews perished.
Ocean Odyssey
Narrator
The largest predator on the planet, the sperm whale, is your host for an amazing exploration of the final frontier -- the world at the bottom of the ocean. From the makers of the Walking With series comes this incredible marine tour, in which you'll witness a rarely seen world of hidden mountain ranges, majestic canyons, volcanoes and the beautiful and often deadly creatures that inhabit the deep sea.
A Very Social Secretary
David Blunkett
Bernard Hill and Victoria Hamilton star in Alistair Beaton's wickedly funny feature-length drama inspired by David Blunkett's private affair held up for very public scrutiny.
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
King William III
The fictional world of Royston Vasey is facing apocalypse and the only way to avert disaster is for our nightmarish cast of characters to find a way into the real world and confront their creators. From present day Soho to the fictional film world of 17th Century Britain, the residents must overcome countless bizarre obstacles in their bid to return Royston Vasey to safety.
Horizon: Einstein's Unfinished Symphony
Beatles Biggest Secrets
Narrator
Featuring new and exclusive interviews, Beatles' Biggest Secrets, reveals the inside story of the world's greatest pop group with explosive revelations about the extraordinary lives of Liverpool's favorite sons. From the band's formation and early exposure to the gritty world of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll in the dingy strip clubs of Hamburg, Germany, the program then travels forward through the Beatles' careers with shocking surprises about their relationships with each other, their women and their inner circle. Filled with interviews from friends, relatives, colleagues and former girlfriends as well as rare film footage and original artwork by artist Klaus Voormann, this is the first fully rounded Beatles portrait to appear on DVD. This is the Beatles at their best -- and their worst!
Wimbledon
Edward Colt
British tennis player Peter clutches to an embarrassingly low position on the tennis-ranking ladder. Handed a wild card for Wimbledon, he expects it to be his final bow.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Théoden
Aragorn is revealed as the heir to the ancient kings as he, Gandalf and the other members of the broken fellowship struggle to save Gondor from Sauron's forces. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam take the ring closer to the heart of Mordor, the dark lord's realm.
Gothika
Phil Parsons
After a car crash, a criminal psychologist regains consciousness only to find that she's a patient in the same mental institution that currently employs her. It seems she's been accused of murdering her husband—but she has no memory of committing the crime. As she tries to regain her memory and convince her co-workers of her innocence, a vengeful spirit uses her as an earthly pawn, which further convinces everyone of her guilt.
The Boys & Girl from County Clare
John Joe
In Ireland in the mid 1960s, two feuding brothers and their respective Ceilidh bands compete at a music festival.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Théoden
Frodo and Sam are trekking to Mordor to destroy the One Ring of Power while Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn search for the orc-captured Merry and Pippin. All along, nefarious wizard Saruman awaits the Fellowship members at the Orthanc Tower in Isengard.
The Scorpion King
Philos
In ancient Egypt, peasant Mathayus is hired to exact revenge on the powerful Memnon and the sorceress Cassandra, who are ready to overtake Balthazar's village. Amid betrayals, thieves, abductions and more, Mathayus strives to bring justice to his complicated world.
Going Off Big Time
Murray
After surviving prison, a man has to forge a career in the crime world
Eisenstein
The voice of Stalin
A glimpse at the life of legendary Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein.
A Question of Faith
Frederick
A man at a monastery realizes he is a woman.
The Criminal
Det. Insp. Walker
Jasper Rawlins, a none-too-successful musician, finds himself chatting with a beautiful woman at his neighborhood bar. She goes home with him, direct and frank in answer to his nervousness. During the night, someone breaks into his flat and cuts her throat. He runs into the arms of the police, who dismiss his story, but release him while they search for the weapon. He investigates the crime, and over the next few days, meets a knowing pornographer, hit men, and other schemers. As dead bodies pile up wherever he goes, the police are soon looking for him with guns drawn. As he discovers secrets about a shadowy corporation, the police close in. Can he find someone to trust?
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Egeus
A film adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy about lovers whose romantic affections are manipulated by fairy magic. The setting is updated to a Tuscan hill town in the late 19th century.
The Loss of Sexual Innocence
Susan's Father
The story of the sexual development of a filmmaker through three stages of his life.
Great Expectations
Abel Magwitch
A young boy called Pip stumbles upon a hunted criminal who threatens him and demands food. A few years later, Pip finds that he has a benefactor. Imagining that Miss Havisham, a rich lady whose adopted daughter Estella he loves, is the benefactor, Pip believes in a grand plan at the end of which he will be married to Estella. However, when the criminal from his childhood turns up one stormy night and reveals that he, Magwitch, is his benefactor, Pip finds his dreams crumbling. Although initially repulsed by his benefactor, Pip gradually becomes loyal to him and stays with him until his death.
True Crime
Warden Luther Plunkitt
Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row prisoner is slated to die at midnight – a man Everett has suddenly realized is innocent.
Titanic: Secrets Revealed
Host
What happened after the Titanic went down? Secrets has been revealed.
Titanic
Edward Smith
101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.
The Mill on the Floss
Edward Tulliver
Lawyer Wakem takes the mill on the river Floss away from Edward Tulliver (whose ancestors have owned it for 300 years) and becomes the worst enemy of Tulliver's family. When Edward's daughter, Maggie, grows up, she falls in love with Wakem's son Philip. However, her brother Tom (true to the memory of their father) forbids her to meet him again. When she visits her cousin Lucy Deane, Lucy's fiance, Stephen Guest, falls in love with Maggie at first sight, further complicating matters.
The Wind in the Willows
The Engine Driver
Jailed for his reckless driving, rambunctious Mr. Toad has to escape from prison when his beloved Toad Hall comes under threat from the wily weasels, who plan to build a dog food factory on the very meadow sold to them by Toad himself.
The Ghost and the Darkness
Dr. David Hawthorne
Sir Robert Beaumont is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman, seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington, who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.
Madagascar Skin
Flint
This is the story of Harry and Flint, an unlikely couple. Harry is a shy young gay man who can't seem to fit into his local bar scene. Flint is a crusty, older, and seemingly straight man with a questionable background. They meet on a gorgeous coastline, and evolve from distrust to deep love.
Speaking In Tongues
Tony Marchant's eloquent and painful play about the changes to how people are employed, and what that does to their sense of self.
Dirtysomething
Larry
Dirtysomething centres around young lovers Becca and Dog, an older fellow traveller, sage Larry, and is about the pitfalls of giving up the alternative 'crustie' liftestyle of no fixed abode and travelling to settle down.
Skallagrigg
John
Back in the 'bad old days' when the physically and mentally disabled were locked away in institutions a legend grew of someone who could stand up to the authorities and help them. This charming story is how a group of disabled people went to chase that legend. To assist them John is forced to come to terms with his daughter and her friends.
Olly's Prison
Mike
"When you marry, have kids...you'll still be in that chair." An ordinary city flat. Evening. A man tries to talk to his daughter. She will not answer. The play moves through the prison of the mind, to that of the outside world in a search that leads to a tragedy.
The Art of Tripping
Based on the idea that drugs have influenced some of our greatest minds (Poe, Baudelaire etc.), this film documents just how influential drug experiences have been on the minds of great writers, poets and thinkers.
Shepherd on the Rock
Tam Ferrier
A developer tries to take over a Scottish shepherd's land.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Bottom
Mistaken identity, unrequited love, and the supernatural are combined in Shakespeare's classic set in the woods of Greece on a moonlit night.
Double X: The Name of the Game
Ignatius 'Iggy' Smith
Expert safecracker Arthur Clutten masterminds heists for a criminal syndicate he belongs to. But after witnessing the brutal methods of persuasion being meted out by gang leader, Ignatius Smith Clutten decides to quit. But he realizes the gang would sooner see him killed than quitting. After stealing some documents incriminating Smith and his boss, Edward Ross, Clutten then puts his family in hiding and goes on the run...but his daughter has been kidnapped by the gang and a hitman has been hired and is close to finding Clutten.
The Law Lord
Martin Allport
A new government takes power with a drastically reduced majority. But the ambitious young Home Secretary has a plan to bring the legal establishment to heel and bypass Parliament altogether. Anthony Andrews says of writer and barrister John Cooper (who wrote the ITV series The Advocates): "John is writing about a world he knows intimately. It is a most original and exciting screenplay and extremely prescient in view of the current controversies surrounding the judiciary." Producer Simon Passmore Director Jim Goddard
Mountains of the Moon
Dr. Livingstone
The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire. The film tells the story of their meeting, their friendship emerging amidst hardship, and then dissolving after their journey.
Shirley Valentine
Joe Bradshaw
Wondering what has happened to herself, now feeling stagnant and in a rut, Shirley Valentine finds herself regularly talking to the wall while preparing her husband's chips and egg. When her best friend wins a trip-for-two to Greece Shirley begins to see the world, and herself, in a different light.
Drowning by Numbers
Madgett
Three related women, all named Cissie Colpitts share a solidarity for one another which brings about three copy-cat drownings. The local coroner is in love with all three women and helps to disguise the murders.
Bellman and True
Hiller
Hiller, a computer expert, was bribed by group of bank robbers to obtain details of the security system at a newly-built bank. Having obtained the information, he thought he'd seen the last of the robbers. But now they've traced him and his son to London. They hold the son hostage and force Hiller to decode the information about the alarm and then to take part in the robbery.
Boy Soldier
Officer
Wil Thomas, a young Welsh soldier on duty in Northern Ireland shoots a terrorist in self-defence and is used as scapegoat by the political system.
Theban Plays: Antigone
Messenger
In a final battle for the control of Thebes, Oedipus's two sons kill each other. Creon issues an order that no one is to bury Polynices upon pain of death. But Antigone is determined that her brother's body will have the proper rites of burial.
No Surrender
Bernard
It's New Year's Eve in Thatcher's de-industrialising Britain. The scene is set at a seedy bar in Liverpool where a group of Irish Protestant and Irish Catholic pensioners will gather to clash and bash the new year in.
The Burston Rebellion
Tom Higdon
Drama reconstructing the events of a strike by the schoolchildren of a Norfolk school in 1914, who refused to accept the dismissal of their teachers, Tom and Annie Higdon, who were both socialists.
Restless Natives
Will's father
Two lads in Edinburgh embark on a non-violent spree of robberies. They dress up in clown masks and act as modern highwaymen, robbing coach loads of tourists in the highlands. In the process they become folk heroes to the locals. Their adventures make for a whimsical and gentle comedy, in the Bill Forsyth vein.
Squaring the Circle
Lech Walesa
An account of how Lech Walesa and the "Solidarity" trade union confronted the might of Communist dictatorship in Poland.
The Bounty
William Cole
The familiar story of Lieutenant Bligh, whose cruelty leads to a mutiny on his ship. This version follows both the efforts of Fletcher Christian to get his men beyond the reach of British retribution, and the epic voyage of Lieutenant Bligh to get his loyalists safely to East Timor in a tiny lifeboat.
The Chain
Nick
Comedy featuring interweaving stories of seven households caught up in a property chain on moving day, each one dependent on the other.
Runners
Trevor Field
When his young daughter disappears, her father refuses to accept that she is dead and sets out on a journey to find her.
The Tragedy of Richard III
First Murderer
Richard Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of King Edward IV, will stop at nothing to get the crown. He first convinces the ailing King that the Duke of Clarence, his elder brother, is a threat to the lives of Edward's two young sons. Edward has him imprisoned in the Tower of London; killers in Richard's pay then drown Clarence in a barrel of wine. When news of Clarence's death reaches the King, the subsequent grief and remorse bring about his death. Richard is made Lord Protector, with power to rule England while his nephew (now King Edward V) is still a minor. Before the young king's coronation he has his two nephews conveyed to the Tower, ostensibly for their safekeeping. Richard's accomplice, the Duke of Buckingham, then declares the two boys illegitimate and offers Richard the crown, which after a show of reticence he accepts. After Richard's coronation, he and Buckingham have a falling-out over whether or not to assassinate the two children.
Henry VI Part 3
Duke of York
The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.
Henry VI Part 2
Duke of York
The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.
Henry VI Part 1
Duke of York / Master Gunner Of Orleans
The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.
Gandhi
Sergeant Putnam
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
A Turn for the Worse
Simon Simpson
Simon Simpson runs an entertainment agency in Liverpool. At one of his regular auditions in The Bootle Railway Club he sees an aggressive young man fresh from the dole queue who dreams of becoming a professional comedian. Simpson believes the boy has talent and starts to groom him for 'stardom'.
Say No to Strangers
A short film to warn children of sexual predators.
Fox
Vin Fox
The thirteen-part series recounted the lives of the titular Fox family, who lived in Clapham in South London and had gangland connections.
The Black Stuff
Yosser Hughes
A Liverpool tarmac gang set off for a contract in Middlesborough. After a day of work, the group are approached by two gypsies who offer them a lucrative side job.
Soldiers Talking, Cleanly
Mick
One man's view of the British Army in Germany - the social life, discipline, drink, women and, occasionally, the defence of the West.
She Fell Among Thieves
Carson
While on a Pyrenees vacation in 1922, upright English gentleman Richard Chandos (Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange, Heroes) encounters the villainous Vanity Fair (Eileen Atkins, Cold Mountain). Mistress of the turreted Chateau Jezreel and leader of a motley band of criminals, she will inherit millions if she can force her stepdaughter to marry. Pitting his wits against this formidable adversary, Chandos determines to rescue the beautiful young woman. But Vanity Fair keeps one step ahead of him, a trick forever up her sleeve and murder in her heart.
The Spongers
Sullivan
In the days leading up the Queen's Silver Jubilee, Pauline, a recently separated single mother, receives a visit from a bailiff and is given 15 days to address her overdue rent payments. Meanwhile, the local council is under pressure to cut expenditure, and their decisions result in Pauline's mentally handicapped daughter Paula being transferred from a care home for special needs children to an old people's home, where she is all alone.
Professional Foul
Broadbent
Three philosophy professors travel to Prague for a conference. One of them, Anderson, is forced to rethink his ideas on ethics when a former student is arrested by the Czech authorities for writing about individualist approaches to morality.
Daft Mam Blues
Billy
As sisters, Gladys and Iris never agree about anything - but on one point they're clear: their old mam can't hear a word of their arguments, can she?
Our Flesh and Blood
Bernard Blincoe
TV play by Mike Stott. Comedy about a couple expecting their first baby.
It Could Happen to You
Syph
An educational film about the perils associated with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The drama is interspersed with scenes of a medical adviser directly addressing the camera giving advice and information about STDs.
Housewives' Choice
Eric
Marcia is looking for someone to look after her baby and Joyce seems ideal, looking like a perfect, kindly, respectable lady.
Trial by Combat
Blind Freddie
A group called The Knights Of Avalon are unhappy with the justice system so are taking the law into their own hands by executing criminals using medieval methods such as jousting.
Hard Labour
Edward Thornley
A quiet and put-upon house cleaner breaks her silence.
Return of the king (Extended Edition)
Théoden
The Two Towers (Extended Edition)
Théoden