Bernard Hill, the actor who gave the battle cry before leading his people into battle in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and who captained the ship in Titanic, has died.
Hill, 79, died Sunday morning, according to his agent, Lou Coulson.
Hill played the role of Theoden, King of Rohan, in 2002's The Two Towers, the second film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The following year, he reprized the role in The Return of the King, which won 11 Oscars.
In one of the film's most memorable scenes, Hill's character rides a horse and roars, sending an army roaring down the hill towards the enemy and his own impending death. Inspire your army.
“Rise, rise, ye horsemen of Theoden!” cried the hill. “Spears will fall, shields will shatter! Day of the sword, red day, before the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride towards destruction and the end of the world. Let's die! Death!
In Titanic, Hill played Captain Edward Smith, one of the only characters based on a real person, in the 1997 tragic romance starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The film also won 11 Academy Awards.
As the doomed ship takes on water, Hill's character quietly retreats to the wheelhouse. As the cabin groaned under the pressure of the waves and water sprayed out of the windows, he took a last breath and gripped his steering wheel.
Hill first rose to fame as Yosser Hughes in the 1982 British television miniseries “Boys from the Blackstuff,” about five unemployed men.
He was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for this role in 1983, and the show won the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series.
His death occurred on the same day that the second series of BBC drama The Responder was due to be broadcast. In the drama, he played the father of the show's star, Martin Freeman.
“Bernard Hill has blazed a trail on screen and his long career, filled with iconic and notable roles, is testament to his great talent,” said Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama. “Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this sad time.”