Elijah Wood , Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Sean Astin - who played the four hobbits in the trilogy - stood on stage as they told fans they 'lost a member of our family' today.
The starring Hobbits from Lord of the Rings stood together to pay tribute to Bernard Hill this evening, hours after he died age 79.
Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Sean Astin - who played the four hobbits in the trilogy - stood on stage as they told fans they 'lost a member of our family' today. Bernard Hill rose to fame for his performance as Yosser Hughes in the 1982 BBC drama Boys from the Blackstuff 'It is with the greatest sadness that we must announce that Bernard Hill, renowned for his roles in Titanic and Lord of the Rings, passed away in the early hours of this morning at the age of 79,' a family statement read.
Alan Bleasdale, who co- wrote the 1980's hit films, said that Hill's death was 'a great loss and great surprise' adding that his performance as Yosser was 'the great, definitive performance of his generation'. Hill's passing comes hours before he was due to return to TV screens in Martin Freeman drama The Responder, which airs on BBC One tonight.
The actor, pictured as King Theoden, won plaudits for his portrayal of the ageing monarch trying to protect his people from the forces of evil A message posted on Comic Con's Instagram said: 'Due to Bernard's partner being taken very ill he can no longer attend the event. He sends his sincere apologies and thanks you all for you understanding'.After attending Comic Con Scotland in Aberdeen in March, when asked what his plans for after the event, he said: 'A good night's sleep. It was pretty brutal coming in on that tiny aeroplane. It didn't bother me, I liked it. I left me a bit weary at the end of it.
Writer Mr Bleasdale added: ': 'It was an astonishing, mesmeric performance - Bernard gave everything to that and you can see it in all the scenes. He became Yosser Hughes. 'I was desperate to work with him. Everything he did - his whole procedure for working, the manner in which he worked and his performance was everything that you could ever wish for.
The Manchester native will star opposite Martin Freeman in the second series of The Responder, which airs on the BBC tonight Born in Blackley into a family of coal miners, he would attend acting school with Richard Griffiths, before moving into television. The sequel won a Bafta for best drama series in 1983 and was listed as the seventh best TV show ever made on a British Film Institute list in 2000.
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