Hoskins wasn't the first choiceto play Eddie Valiant other, more well-known comedic actors passed over the part before him but the legacy he and the film itself have left in Hollywood has us believing Hoskins was the only man truly meant for the role. He was also nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actorfor the same role. (1984), Beyond The Limit In his moments of on-screen rage, he resembled a pink grenade. A look at the life and career of Bob Hoskins, the much-loved actor best known for his roles in Pennies from Heaven, The Long Good Friday and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He went on to playIagoinJonathan Miller'sBBC Television Shakespeareproduction ofOthello(1981). Who Framed Roger Rabbit is recognized as an incredible technological achievement in the age before digital VFX for melding traditional animation atop the real world, having flesh-and-blood actors interact with animated two-dimensional characters in a goofy alternate universe where cartoons live amongst us in everyday life. Learn more about contributing; Doctors told him to take just a few months off, but Hoskins decided not to work again for an entire year after Who Framed Roger Rabbit; those releases after his return to working were Heart Condition and Mermaids in 1990. By what name was Heart Condition (1990) officially released in Canada in English? (1988). His. He was amusing in a cameo as a heating engineer in Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) and as a coarse screenwriter in the comedy Sweet Liberty (1986), one of four films he made with his friend Michael Caine. (2012), Outside Bet (2009), Doomsday He is the son of Elsie . He directed two films that he also starred in:The Raggedy Rawney(1988) andRainbow(1996), and producedMrs Henderson PresentsalongsideNorma Heyman, for which he was nominated Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.[17]. (2002), The White River Kid [26], On 8 August 2012 Hoskins announced his retirement from acting having been diagnosed withParkinson's diseasein 2011. Other works in film included delivering comic turns inTerry Gilliam'sBrazil(1985); portrayingSmeeinHook(1991) and inNeverland(2011); starring oppositeCherinMermaids(1990); portrayingNikita Khrushchevas apolitical commissarinEnemy at the Gates(2001); and playing Uncle Bart, the violent psychopathic "owner" ofJet LiinUnleashed(2005; akaDanny The Dog). You're dead! Hoskins was a self-proclaimed rebellious youth who left school at 15 and set off to explore the world, holding a variety of odd jobs along the way, studying accounting and working as a circus fire eater. Stockily built and adept at playing both light and heavy roles, Bob Hoskins became an international star of the cinema after a long career in the theatre. (1993), Super Mario Bros. (2000), Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects As the beleaguered, optimistic sheet-music salesman in the BBC series Pennies from Heaven (1978), written by Dennis Potter, he was sweetly galumphing and sincere. If anyone gets out of their car and wants to have a fight with me, they suddenly look at me and see themselves hanging up on a meat hook and soon bottle out.. From villainous to a more likable role, Hoskins played Sancho Panza, the right hand man of John Lithgow's "Don Quixote" (2000), in the TNT production. Oct 26, 1942, Birthplace: Hoskins revealed toThe Express back in 2009, "I think I went a bit mad doing that. Maggie Smith in her BAFTA winning performance as Judith Hearne, supported by Bob Hoskins as her flirtatious fellow lodger. How tall was Bob Hoskins? No other actor has a more legitimate claim on the title of the British Cagney. (2001), Last Orders A prestigious BAFTA nomination and a Best Actor Award from the Evening Standard British Film Awards for his performance significantly raised Hoskins' profile, and in quick succession he appeared as Iago in a BBC TV version of "Othello" (1980), as a rock and roll manager in "Pink Floyd's The Wall" (1982), and as a heartless South American policeman in "Beyond the Limit" (1983). When Mooney and Stone's mother are standing at the foot of the bed and Mooney opens his shirt, you can see Stone's mother's hand on his chest, but in the next shot, she is just now reaching for his chest. Although he dredged up his brutal side on occasion, such as in the action thriller Unleashed (2005), tenderness predominated in later years. Photograph: Everett Collection/REX, Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. As he puts it: For me a knighthood is like a bowler hat. [28][29][30]When asked in an interview which living person he most despised, Hoskins namedTony Blairand said that "he's done even more damage thanThatcher". (1991), Hook (1988), Who Framed Roger Rabbit A racist cop receives a heart transplant from a black lawyer he hates, who returns as a ghost to ask the cop to help take down the men who murdered him. It was a gift from God that he had become an actor (or that was his fate and it was inevitable). Even Hoskins's performance in Super Mario Bros., a feature film based onof all thingsa video game, has much to recommend it, although apart from the obvious money factor, why an actor of Hoskins's gifts would consent to appear in like this and Spice World (the cinematic debut and swan song of the flashin-the-pan British all-girl rock band . A year later, he took on his greatest technical challenge in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Robert Zemeckis's fusion of live action and animation, in which Hoskins was one of the film's few flesh-and-blood participants. The final straw was an affair he had in South Africa while making the film Zulu Dawn. She made me aware that when I drank I was being a complete pain in the arse., I probably wouldn't be alive without her. Further trading on his newfound status as a romantic lead, he appeared opposite Maggie Smith in "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne" (1987). , updated [14]In 1983 Hoskins voiced an advert forWeetabixand during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he appeared in advertising forBritish GasandBritish Telecom(now BT Group). [13]His breakthrough in television came later in the original BBC version ofDennis Potter's innovative 6-part fantasy-dramaPennies from Heaven(1978), in which he portrayed adulterous sheet music salesman Arthur Parker. This meant that Hoskins had to perform all his scenes opposite nothing rubber mock-up puppets were used for rehearsing and blocking scenes, but cameras started rolling, he was almost completely on his own. (2007), Go Go Tales Fox, now 51, had started displaying symptoms in 1990 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood but wasnt diagnosed until the following year. Not Available, Birthday: (1997), Neverland [14][38], Nominated European Film Award for Best Actor(shared with ensemble cast). [25]In 2009 he returned to television forJimmy McGovern's drama serialThe Street, playing a publican who opposes a local gangster. A few years ago he was described by a journalist, the step-daughter of a New Labour cabinet minister, as not the cheeky chappie he seems but the rudest, most disagreeable person Ive ever interviewed. During Spin Citys fourth season he announced his retirement from the show to focus on spending more time with his family. A scene-stealing stage role as an electrician in "Veterans" caught the eye of a television producer who cast him in the lead in the British comedy series, "Pennies from Heaven" (1978), where Hoskins played a sheet-music salesman prone to fantasy. During the decades of his career Bob Hoskins starred in such films as Balto (voice work), The Secret Agent (thriller), Neverland (mini-series) etc. "[10]His audition was successful and Frost became his understudy. By Sadie Nicholas 00:01, Sat, Feb 11, 2017 Your email address will not be published. Hoskins was introduced to American audiences with his performance as American gangster Owen Madden in Francis Ford Coppola's major misfire, "The Cotton Club," (1984) as well as his portrayal of fascist leader Mussolini in the HBO miniseries "Mussolini and I" (1985). I made up this woman in my head and on the royal wedding day, when they kept the pubs open late, I walked into one place and there she was, Linda, sipping a G&T at the bar and I thought, you are mine., By that time he was famous, having starred in Dennis Potters TV drama Pennies From Heaven and played gangster Harold Shand opposite Helen Mirren in The Long Good Friday, the role for which he perhaps still remains most well-known. Hoskins is survived by Linda; their children, Rosa and Jack; and Alex and Sarah, the children of his first marriage. (m. 1967; div. It's a great legacy to have, because at the end of it, he received the same glorious compliment the eyebrow-raising character Jessica Rabbit gave her husband in the movie: he made us laugh. It's also a cinematic masterpiece in its devotion to detail ensuring that each point the two-dimensional characters touch in the three-dimensional world leave traces of their existence in the form of fingerprints, jostled furniture, and being affected by the lighting around them. (2008), Ruby Blue Hoskins went on to execute an amusing turn as the idiosyncratic Sir Pitt Crawley opposite Reese Witherspoon in Mira Nair's witty adaptation of "Vanity Fair" (2004), which thankfully overshadowed his supporting role in the abysmal sequel, "Son of the Mask" (2005), less than a year later. 4. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. We had a lot of laughs on the set and he encouraged the younger actors. Bob Hoskins Biography Birth Name: Robert William Hoskins Birth Place: Bury St. Edmond's, Suffolk, England Profession Actor Fast Facts Left school at 15 Claimed to have never taken an acting. Bob Hoskins was an English actor, theatre artist, voice actor, and director known for his roles like Vivian Van Damm inMrs Henderson Presents, Albert inMade in Dagenham, Ray Raysie Johnson inLast Orders, Hilditch inFelicias Journey, Arthur Parker inPennies from Heaven,J. Edgar Hoover inNixon, Eddie Valiant inWho Framed Roger Rabbit, George inMona Lisa, Harold Shand inThe Long Good Friday, Colonel Perez inThe Honorary Consul, Paddy Gargan in The Streets, Angelo Roncalli/Pope John XXIII in The Good Pope: Pope John XXIII, James Madden inThe Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, Nikita Khrushchev inEnemy at the Gates, Odin inSon of the Mask, Muir inSnow White and the Huntsman, Manuel Noriega inNoriega: Gods Favorite, Winston Churchill in World War II: When Lions Roared, Lou Landsky in Mermaids, and Benito Mussolini inMussolini and I. More screen success followed. Heart Condition: Directed by James D. Parriott. (2001), Enemy at the Gates Piling on the unpolished but irresistible charm, he shone again as the lover of a flamboyant small town single mom (Cher) in "Mermaids" (1990) and provided humorous support as the henchman Smee in "Hook" (1991), Steven Spielberg's retelling of the Peter Pan story. [12]He portrayed the character Alf Hunt, aremoval manwho had problems reading and writing. For more than a decade, he did little television; there were only a handful of exceptions, including some ubiquitous television commercials for British Telecom in which he delivered the catchphrase "It's good to talk". The fearless and energetic charmer fell into acting entirely by accident one evening when he was mistaken at a bar as an actor queuing up for a play audition within the building. Bob left school at the age of 15 and took. With his second wife Linda Banwell, he had two more children named Rosa (born c. 1983) and Jack (born c. As Bob used to describe himself, he was fat and short, nevertheless Hoskins was the most changeable person in the world. Hoskins famously got his first acting job by accident when he pitched up to an audition with an actor friend who was applying for a part only to also be asked to read a script. Actress Rosa takes . Soon after he got back he met a teacher called Jane Livesey and they had a son, Alexander. [2] [3] His grandmother was Romani. (1997), The Raggedy Rawney (2006), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties His son and daughter are now 44 and 40 respectively and relations were repaired enough for Alex to work as assistant editor on Rainbow, a children's film Hoskins directed in 1995. His breakout leading role in the gritty British thriller "The Long Good Friday" (1980) established Hoskins' streetwise charm, and from there, the following he had acquired on British television and the stages of London's West End spread internationally. Contribute to this page. A New York mobster in Francis Ford Coppola's "Cotton Club" (1984), Hoskins lent an emotional depth to the ex-con he portrayed in Neil Jordan's "Mona Lisa" (1986), earning a Golden Globe Award for his performance and returning to the ceremony two years later as a nominee for one of the era's most inventive comedies, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" His legacy in Who Framed Roger Rabbit marks Hoskins as a genius and the forerunner of the kind of modern acting that we take for granted today. Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer, Jurassic Park Movies Ranked By Tomatometer, 10 Black Women Filmmakers Who Have Shaped the Cinema Landscape of the 21st Century, 10 LGBTQIA+ Women Who Became Trailblazers in Entertainment, Highest Rated: In 2012, Hoskins retired from acting due toParkinson's disease, and he died from pneumonia on 29 April 2014, at age 71. Unfortunately, Spacey's labor of love failed to spark an interest with critics and audiences. [9]A year later, while waiting in the bar atUnity Theatre, London, for his friend the actor Robert Frost, Hoskins found himself being auditioned for a play after being handed a script and told "you're next. Highlights included his playful odd-couple double act with Fred Gwynne in Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club (1984), and his portrayal of a down-at-heel businessman wooing an alcoholic piano teacher (Maggie Smith) in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987). By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Robert William Hoskins, actor, born 26 October 1942; died 29 April 2014, Actor associated with tough guy roles, but capable of playing the poodle as well as the pitbull, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Bob Hoskins as an ambitious East End gangster in The Long Good Friday (1980). 98% From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. (born 26 October 1942 - 29 April 2014) was an English actor, known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday (1980), and Mona Lisa (1986), and lighter roles in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Hook (1991). As an only. [37]Among the actors who paid tribute at his funeral wereStephen Fry,Samuel L. Jackson, andHelen Mirren, who said that "London will miss one of her best and most loving sons". [35], On 29 April 2014, he died ofpneumoniaat a hospital inLondon,Englandat age 71. In 2011, he was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease and retired from acting the following year. However, he has admitted that the experience sent him off his rocker and it took a psychologist to explain that he was having a breakdown. The trouble was, I learnt how to hallucinate. He studied accountancy but couldnt face the thought of office life and went travelling, ending up picking fruit on a kibbutz in Israel. Met in 1980; married c. 1981. Hoskins and Blethyn paired up again in actor Kevin Spacey's directorial debut, "Beyond the Sea" (2004), in which Hoskins played the brother-in-law and father figure of ailing singer Bobby Darin. She survives. He has described the intervening four decades, in which he played vicious gangsters, tender-hearted softies and real-life figures from J Edgar Hoover to Pope John XXIII or Mussolini, as having saved him from robbing banks, although he was actually a window cleaner when he got that first casting. , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. 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