RIP Bernard Hill

News has sadly broken of the passing of British actor Bernard Hill, at the age of 79. Hill has a lengthy and distinguished career in British theatre and television, but is best-known to international audiences for playing Captain Smith in James Cameron's Titanic and the role of Théoden, King of Rohan, in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

Hill was born in Blackley, Manchester in 1944. He had a strong working-class background, with his Catholic family mostly working in the mining industry. Hill noted his interest in acting came out of nowhere and took everyone, including himself, by surprise. He studied drama at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama, graduating in 1970.

He acted in local theatre roles but kept an eye out for screen opportunities. In 1973 he made his screen debut in Hard Labour, an episode of the BBC's Play for Today anthology series. He made an impact playing John Lennon in the Beatles biographical play John, Paul, George, Ringo...and Bert in 1974, and followed that up with his movie debut in It Could Happen to You  (1975). He played Gratus in two episodes of legendary BBC historical drama I, Claudius in 1976.

In 1978, Hill originated the role that would first make him famous. Returning to Play for Today, he starred as Yosser Hughes in Alan Bleasdale's drama The Black Stuff. The TV film revolves around a group of tarmac-layers from Liverpool on a job near Middlesbrough. The film attracted a great deal of acclaim when it was finally released in 1980, inspiring Bleasdale to expand the premise into a full TV series.

Boys from the Blackstuff debuted in October 1982 and ran for five episodes. The premise is that the main characters from The Black Stuff have lost their jobs and are now searching for work. The episode focused on Hill's character struck a cord with the general public, with Yosser Hughes urgently seeking a new job whilst Britain's real-life economic situation appeared perilous, with over 3 million unemployed. His cry of "Gizza job!" became an instant catchphrase. The episode was praised for its mix of comedy with tragedy: Hughes' unemployment and inability to care for his children pushes him to the edge of sanity.

The same year Bernard Hill played the role of Sergeant Putnam in Gandhi. He also appeared in The Bounty (1984) and Shirley Valentine (1989). He reprised his role as John Lennon for the TV film A Journey in the Life (1985), and had notable appearances in Dennis Potter's Lipstick on Your Collar (1993) and Once Upon a Time in the North(1994).

In 1997 Hill was cast as Captain Edward J. Smith in James Cameron's epic film Titanic. Despite Cameron's tyrannical reputation whilst making the film, Hill and the film's British cast mostly got on well with Cameron, finding his no-nonsense film-making style refreshing in Hollywood. The scene where Smith stoically decides to go down with the ship attracted some acclaim and attention to Hill.

Hill followed that up with a memorable turn as Abel Magwitch in the 1999 BBC version of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

In 2000, Hill decamped to New Zealand for a lengthy stint to film Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Playing Theoden, King of Rohan, Hill appeared in the second and third films in the series, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. His role was acclaimed, particularly for his speech rousing the Rohirrim to battle at the Pelennor Fields. He struck up strong friendships amongst the cast, particularly with Viggo Mortensen and Miranda Otto, and developed a fondness for the country of New Zealand. He returned in 2014 to film the mini-series Hope and Wire.

On Viggo Mortensen's last day of shooting on Lord of the Rings, Bernard Hill seized control of his make-up bus and drove it into the studio so the cast and crew could pay tribute to his work.

In 2015 he played Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, in the BBC mini-series Wolf Hall.

Hill was due to appear at a convention alongside fellow Lord of the Rings castmembers this weekend, but pulled out due to ill health. The convention dedicated their panel to his memory, and much of the time was taken up by attendees sharing fond memories of working alongside him.

I had my own brief encounter with Bernard Hill in the mid-1990s, when I and my mother met him on a trip to Southwold in Suffolk (Hill owned a house nearby). I had no idea who he was - this being many years before he was cast in Lord of the Rings - but my mother was a huge fan of Boys from the Blackstuff and chatted to him for some time. He was very kind and complementary of our pet dog, a very nice man.

Bernard Hill was a well-loved and respected actor across multiple decades and in many countries. His performances were iconic and his presence will be felt for many years to come. He will be missed.

RIP David Warner

Sadly, news has broken that the actor David Warner has passed away at the age of 80.

Born in Manchester in 1941, Warner graduated from RADA in London and made his professional stage debut in 1962. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963 and was soon making his name on stages all around Britain, with an impressive ability to pick up different roles very quickly.

He made his feature film debut in 1963 in an adaptation of Tom Jones, and memorably played opposite Bob Dylan in a BBC TV play Madhouse on Castle Street, the same year. By the start of the 1970s he had established himself as a low-key but versatile performer on stage, in the cinema and on television.

His big breakthrough role came in 1976 when he played Keith Jennings in The Omen, which opened him up to bigger Hollywood roles. He played major roles in Time After Time (1979), Time Bandits (1981), Tron (1982) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (1991).

In 1989 he began a successful collaboration with the Star Trek franchise, playing Ambassador St. John Talbot in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Klingon Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) and the Cardassian Gul Madred in the two-part Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Chain of Command. Infamously, Warner's character tortured Patrick Stewart's Captain Picard with a psychological device, leading to one of Stewart's most famous moments in the series.

Warner developed an affinity for genre roles, also appearing as Thomas Eckhardt in Twin Peaks (1991), Aldous Gajic in Babylon 5 (1994), Jor-El in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1994), Inspector Langford in The Outer Limits (1999), Dr. Latham in Total Recall 2070 (1999), Admiral Tolwyn in Wing Commander (1999), Sandar in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes (2001), Lord Downey in the Discworld TV movie Hogfather (2007), and Abraham van Helsing in Penny Dreadful (2014).

His distinctive voice also saw him much sought-after for animation work, playing Ra's al Ghul in Batman: The Animated Series (1992-95), Herbert Landon in Spider-Man (1995-97) and the Archmage in Gargoyles (1995). He also acted in video games, appearing in Privateer 2: The Darkening (1996), Fallout (1997), Descent 3 (1999), Star Wars: Force Commander (2000) and Star Trek: Klingon Academy (2000), reprising the role of Chancellor Gorkon.

In 1997 he enjoyed probably the highest-profile role of his career by playing the villainous Spicer Lovejoy in James Cameron's Titanic. The film went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time.

Warner also gave what may remain the single greatest villain voice performance - and maybe the greatest video game voice performance ever - as Jon Irenicus in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000), its expansion Throne of Bhaal (2001) and prequel Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear (2016).

He also played numerous roles in the Doctor Who audio dramas from 2003 to 2018, including the Doctor himself in six plays. Remarkably, he only appeared in live-action in Doctor Who once, as Professor Grisenko in the 2013 episode Cold War.

Remarkably, despite many fantastic performances throughout his career, Warner was rarely rewarded by institutions. He achieved a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor for his 1966 performance in Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment, and he won an Emmy Award in 1991 for his portrayal of Pomponius Falco in Masada. He was also nominated for an Emmy for his role as Reinhard Heydric in Holocaust (1978) and was nominated by the Screen Actor's Guild as part of the ensemble for Titanic (1997).

A versatile and charismatic actor who always got the assignment and gave his best, David Warner will very much be missed.

RIP James Horner

One of the greats of the film composing world, James Horner, passed away on Monday. He started composing for film in 1978 with The Lady in Red and was still active at the time of his death. He is best-known for composing the soundtracks for the two highest-grossing movies of all time, Avatar and Titanic.

Horner was an concert hall composer before moving into films. His first soundtrack of genre interest was Battle Beyond the Stars in 1981, but he hit the big time when he was picked to score Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan the following year. His score was highly praised for the way it backed both the action and character moments perfectly. He also scored Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

This moved Horner into the big leagues and he scored many of the most well-known movies of the 1980s and 1990s, including 48 Hours, Krull, Cocoon (and its sequel), Commando, An American Tail, *batteries not included, Willow, Red Heat, The Land Before Time, Field of Dreams, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Glory, The Rocketeer, Patriot Games, The Pelican Brief, Clear and Present Danger, Legends of the Fall, Braveheart, Apollo 13, Jumanji, Deep Impact, The Mask of Zorro and The Bicentennial Man.

In 1986 Horner began a highly fruitful collaboration with the director James Cameron. He produced the acclaimed soundtrack to Aliens before working with the director on Titanic. Horner won his only two Academy Awards for the film, both for the score and for the song "My Heart Will Go On" (sung by Celine Dion). In 2009 they reunited so Horner could produce the score for Avatar. Both Cameron and Horner had indicated that Horner would return to score the Avatar sequel trilogy, but it's unknown if Horner had already begun working on that project at the time of his passing.

James Horner was acclaimed as one of the "Three Js" of film scoring in the latter part of the 20th Century, alongside the late Jerry Goldsmith and the still-going-strong John Williams. He soundtracked many of favourite movies of all time and he will be missed.