Focus Features

Bernard Hill

The Judge

Bernard Hill is known to millions of moviegoers globally for his performances in two beloved movies that each won 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture; in James Cameron’s Titanic, he portrayed the ship’s Captain Edward James Smith, and in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, he portrayed King Theoden (after having first played the part in the director’s prior The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers). For the latter film, he shared multiple accolades with the ensemble, including the top Screen Actors Guild Award.

Among his many other feature credits are a third Best Picture Oscar winner, Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi; Roger Donaldson’s The Bounty; Peter Smith’s No Surrender; Richard Loncraine’s Bellman and True; Peter Greenaway’s Drowning by Numbers; Lewis Gilbert’s Shirley Valentine, opposite Academy Award nominee Pauline Collins; Bob Rafelson’s Mountains of the Moon; Clint Eastwood’s True Crime; Michael Hoffman’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Mike Figgis’ The Loss of Sexual Innocence; Mathieu Kassovitz’s Gothika; and Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie.

The Manchester, U.K. native has starred in numerous telefilms and miniseries. These include such classics as I, Claudius and Lipstick on Your Collar. Mr. Hill received a BAFTA Award nomination, and won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award, for Best Actor for Boys from the Blackstuff. He was again a BAFTA Award nominee for A Very Social Secretary, directed by Jon Jones; the performance also brought him an International Emmy Award nomination for Best Actor.

His stage credits include Macbeth and Twelfth Night, both staged by Nancy Meckler; The Cherry Orchard, directed by Sam Mendes; Normal Service and John, Paul, George, Ringo & Bert, both staged by Alan Dosser; and, most recently, A View from the Bridge, directed by David Thacker.