Titanic and Lord of the Rings actor Bernard Hill passes away at the age of 79

Titanic and Lord of the Rings star Bernard Hill died at 79.

He died early Sunday morning, his agent Lou Coulson said. He was with his fiancé Alison and son Gabriel.

He played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning picture and King Théoden in the Lord of the Rings.

In James Cameron's 1997 multi-Oscar-winning "Titanic," Hill plays Captain Edward Smith, who is plagued by his role in the catastrophe and accepts his fate.

The Manchester actor, born December 17, 1944, came from a mining family but went to drama school on the stage. In 1979 and 1983, he played a desperate blue-collar worker in BBC films “The Black Stuff” and “Boys from the Black Stuff.” Yosser Hughes, his character, coined the expression “gizza job” to describe the disappearing working-class under Margaret Thatcher.

Hill's fame spread over the pond during the 1980s and 90s with appearances in the biographical “Gandhi,” starring Sir Ben Kingsley, and the action-thriller “The Ghost and the Darkness,” with Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas.

Hill was scheduled to attend Comic-Con in Liverpool this week. Event producers put out a statement regarding his passing: “We’re heartbroken to hear the news of Bernard Hill’s passing. A great loss. Thinking of his family at this very sad time, and wishing them a lot of strength.”