Bernard Hill is a British actor, born December 17, 1944. He came to prominence in the role of unemployed Yosser Hughes , a working man ultimately driven to the edge by an uncaring system, in Alan Bleasdale’s BBC “Play for Today” The Black Stuff (1979) and its more famous series sequel (also by Bleasdale), Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
In James Cameron’s Titanic he plays the RMS Titanic’s Captain, Edward Smith.
He was cast in the role of King Théoden of Rohan in the second and third of Peter Jackson’s movies based on Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
This makes him the only actor that possesses the strange record of having starred in both most-awarded movies of all times (Titanic and Return of the King - both awarded with 11 Oscars). Interestingly, his birthdate coincides with ROTK’s resease date!