Bernard Hill

Born: December 17 1944
Where: Manchester, UK

Hill is known for roles ranging from the desperate jobless Yosser in TV's Boys from the Blackstuff to King Thoeden of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings.

During a rich career, he has appeared in three movies which won best film Oscars - Gandhi, Lord of the Rings and Titanic, in which he played doomed Captain Smith.

After graduating with a theatre degree from Manchester Polytechnic, he peformed with local theatre group The Salford Players.

He made his British TV debut in 1973 in Mike Leigh's first film Hard Labour and went on to star in typically gritty English productions including Pit Strike and The Spongers.

In 1980, he first played the role of Yosser Hughes in Alan Bleasdale's The Black Stuff - a part which would introduce the phrase "Gizza Job" into the English lexicon.

He had made his feature debut in the little-seen It Could Happen To You in 1975 and had a small role as a train guard in Richard Attenborough's Ghandi in 1982.

Subsequent appearances included Roger Donaldson's The Bounty with Mel Gibson and the Bleasdale comedy No Surrender.

In 1998, he starred in Peter Greenaway's Drowning By Numbers and played Pauline Collins' deserted husband in Shirley Valentine.

Hill played Dr David Livingstone in the adventure drama Mountains of the Moon and appeared alongside Michael Douglas in the flop The Ghost and the Darkness.

He played the Engine Driver in Terry Jones' big screen adaptation of The Wind in the Willows with Steve Coogan and was memorable as Captain Smith in James Cameron's Oscar-winning Titanic.

In 1999, he starred in the Clint Eastwood thriller True Crime and appeared alongside Kevin Kline in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Hill played Philos in the likeable adventure caper The Scorpion King and made his first appearance in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as King Theoden.

Recent appearances include the adequate supernatural thriller Gothika with Halle Berry and Robert Downey Jr.