Elijah Wood shares touching tribute to ‘Lord of the Rings’ co-star Bernard Hill
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(Credits: New Line Cinema)
The Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood, known for his iconic role as Frodo in the Peter Jackson film adaptations of JRRTolkien’s legendary fantasy novels, has paid tribute to his co-star, the late Bernard Hill.
The English actor had famously starred as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but also appeared in James Cameron’s monolithic cinema achievement Titanic as Captain James Edwards, meaning that he held a towering record as an actor.
In appearing in both The Return of the King and Titanic, Hill was recognised as the only actor to have starred in two movies that won 11 Academy Awards, proving the kind of respect that he earned from his fellow performers.
Hill died over the weekend at the age of 79, prompting many of those in the film industry who knew him to offer their memories of the actor and their condolences to his family, none more so than his LOTR co-star Elijah Wood.
Writing on Twitter, Wood shared a photo of Hill taken by Viggo Mortensen and noted, “So long to our friend, our king Bernard Hill. We will never forget you.” Wood also shared a passage from Tolkien’s fantasy novel.
The quote read, “For he was a gentle heart and a great king and kept his oaths; and he rose out of the shadows to a last fair morning.” Dominic Monaghan, who played Merry in LOTR, also shared the photo and wrote, “The Broken king has passed to the grey havens, but he will always be remembered.”
The Director of BBC Drama, Lindsay Salt, has also offered a tribute to Hill, sharing, “Bernard Hill blazed a trail across the screen, and his long-lasting career filled with iconic and remarkable roles is a testament to his incredible talent.”
In the years before his death, Hill had given a critique of the Amazon Prime Tolkien series The Rings of Power. When asked if the LOTR story ought to have ended with The Return of the King, the Theoden actor simply noted, “Completely, yes,” before admitting that the show was just a “money-making venture.”
“I’m not interested in watching that or being in it,” Hill had said. “Good luck to them and all that stuff, but it’s not like the real thing. I think they were pushing it when they made The Hobbit.”
Check out a clip of Hill acting in Lord of the Rings below.
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