Obituary
Bernard Hill at 79.
Best known for Boys from the Blackstuff, Wolf Hall and Titanic
Back on screens at 9pm in The Responder on BBC 1
RIP Yosser
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
A great actor. Beside the roles Jaygee mentions, he was also a suitably powerful presence as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings. His rousing speech before the Ride of the Rohirrim, ending with “Death! Death!!!”, almost made me want to get a horse and learn to ride just so I could join in.
See also his ride along the massed ranks of his troops, bashing his sword against their own weapons, which was apparently improvised by Bernard in the moment. An idea that really works well.
RIP.
Theoden’s breaking down at his son’s funeral was pretty wrenching stuff also.
He made Theoden completely believable and real: a fully rounded character, emotional and conflicted at times – and arguably more three dimensional than in the book (as it were).
That’s a sad one. Many people give The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists as their political awakening. For me it was Boys From The Blackstuff.
I’m desperate, Dan.
I’m with you there. Years and years ago I had to work with an extremely Thatcherite “yuppie” type. He had the shiny suits, brick mobile phone, flash car and tinted blonde hair. The full Yuppie.
One day in the office, there was just general chatter going on and a reference to (perhaps) someone being desperate made his face light up. He talked about the “desperate Dan” scene in loving detail and could barely finish the anecdote as he described the look on Yosser’s face.
Me too what a character actor. Outstanding as Yosser. You just felt so sorry for him.
A great loss – always impressive on the screen. Condolences to all who loved him.
He was great in the fairly thankless role of Shirley Valentine’s husband too (though I can’t be the only one who could have sworn he died years ago).
As ever, a fine performance in the Responder, s2, which has been binged on tonight. I guess he died too soon for an “in memoriam” at the end of the first episode. At least on iplayer; I would hope the actual beeb first episode will make note of his passing.
Absolutely brilliant in ‘Lipstick on Your Collar’ too, alongside Maggie Stead.
Don’t know if it’s still the case, but beware of repeats of that series on Sky as 25% was cut in order to cater for adverts. Seems Dennis Porter was entirely right to call his illness ‘Rupert’. How prescient.
A really great actor who could somehow convey everything his character was feeling without saying a word. One of his first roles was in Willy Russell’s play John Paul George Ringo and Bert in which he played John, alongside Trevor Eve as Paul and Anthony Sher as Ringo – it went to the West End after opening at the Liverpool Everyman and three great careers were under way. (For completists, George was played by Philip Joseph who seems to have had a good career without hitting the heights of the other three).
Unfortunately, his portrayal of Captain Smith sank without trace.
So, so sorry.
Interesting that he’s became mostly synonymous with Liverpudlian characters, but he was a proud Manc and fierce United fan (probably not so proud about that aspect this season).
@Black-Type
BH’s performance as Capt. Smith sank without trace?
Not a bit of it.
Bernard’s Art Will Go On