Cast of the Lord of the Rings pay tribute to late co-star Bernard Hill, ... trends now

The starring Hobbits from Lord of the Rings stood together to pay tribute to Bernard Hill this evening, hours after he died age 79.

The Manchester-born actor, who shot to fame as Yosser Hughes in Boys from the Blackstuff before becoming known to a generation as the embattled King Theoden in Peter Jackson's film trilogy, died surrounded by loved ones this morning.

The star, who went on to play Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar winning film Titanic, had been due to speak at Liverpool Comic Con yesterday pulled out of the event the day before, explaining his partner had become 'very ill'.

Tonight, his co-stars from the film series based on JRR Tolkien's novels, stood at the event in Merseyside and paid tribute to their 'intrepid, funny, gruff, irascible and beautiful' friend and colleague.

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.

Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee, led the homage, telling the crowd: 'So we lost a member of our family this morning, Bernard passed, like King Théoden did. So we want to take a moment before we go off the stage to honour him.

'He was supposed to be here yesterday. We love him. He was intrepid, he was funny, he was gruff, he was irascible, he was beautiful.'

Billy Boyd, who plays Pippin, added: 'We were watching and talking about the movies and I said to Dom, I don't think anyone spoke Tolkien's words as great as Bernard did. The way he grounded those words, he would break my heart on screen.

'He was a wonderful man and he will be solely missed.'

Hill died in the early hours of Sunday morning his agent confirmed. 

'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.

Hill will be remembered for countless films throughout his career but most memorably for his role as Yosser Hughes in the 1980s series Boys from the Blackstuff.

His role as Yosser - the unemployed character known for saying 'gizza job' - not only brought him to the attention of Hollywood but quickly became representative of an era, defining a generation of working class men living in the North of England.

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'.

James Graham, who adapted the film for the stage paid tribute: 'It's almost impossible to overstate the extent of the impact and legacy Bernard Hill, alongside Alan Bleasdale, created when they made Yosser Hughes.

'How rare it is that a character can so definitively come to represent an era, both for Liverpool but way beyond.'

He went on to play Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 award-winning film Titanic, which crossed $1billion at the box office, and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - both films won 11 Oscars each.

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.

Just a day before his death, the beloved star, 79, was also notably absent from a get-together with his former cast mates, including Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd.

The famous gang were seen posing together on Friday night at a restaurant in Liverpool following the culture convention yet Hill was nowhere to be seen.

The pictured shared by Monaghan was captioned '3 hobbits and an elf and the CONVERSATION tonight was VAULTED,' while a second picture of the group on Saturday read '#squadgoals'.

Hill had also been due to speak at the convention in Merseyside yet the event was

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