In his commentary on the The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Extended Edition DVD, he admits that during the course of shooting he first broke his sternum, then had his ear slashed open by a sword.
His birthday coincides with the release date of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
Is currently a purple belt in karate
Has a son named Gabriel.
Before being cast as King Theoden in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, director Peter Jackson considered Hill for the part of Gandalf the wizard.
To date, he has appeared in three films that won the Oscar for Best Picture - Gandhi (1982), Titanic (1997), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
He has had supporting roles in two of the seven most successful films of all time: Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). Both are the only two to make more than $1 billion worldwide; both won exactly 11 Oscars including Best Picture; and both are over three hours long.
He has been in three different versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the animated mini series, he voiced Nick Bottom. In the live action movie, he played Egeus. In the announced, animated Midsummer's Night, He will voice Theseus.
Has worked with two actors who played Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Christopher Lee, with whom he appeared in the Lord of the Rings films, played the part in the film Jinnah. Gandhi, in which Hill appeared, featured Jinnah as a character, played by Alyque Padamsee.
Bernard Hill Detailed Biography
Bernard Hill is known for his astounding, multifaceted acting career that has spanned nearly four decades on both sides of the Atlantic. He is now, perhaps, most recognizable as King Theoden of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, a role that garnered him (and his fellow cast members) a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture. He will reprise that role later this year in the acclaimed trilogy's third and final installment, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Hill has starred in many top British feature films such as Mountains of the Moon and Shirley Valentine as well as American motion pictures, including Titanic (which earned him his first SAG nomination, along with the rest of the cast, for Outstanding Performance by a Cast), True Crime and The Ghost and the Darkness, among many others.
Born in Manchester, England, he made his English television debut in 1973 in Mike Leigh's first film, Hard Labour. Balancing stage, film and television work, Hill's other feature film credits include the films Gandhi, The Bounty, No Surrender, Blessed Art Thou, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Going Off Big Time, The Criminal and, more recently, The Scorpion King. He was also seen in the award-winning television productions of I, Claudius, director Jane Howell's Henry VI trilogy, Richard III, Antigone, Boys From the Black Stuff (for which he received the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' Best Actor award), The Mill on the Floss and Great Expectations.
