A
Tribute To Bob Hoskins -
Actor Bob Hoskins (C)
Original Music 2013
Robert William "
Bob" Hoskins, Jr. BobHoskins (
26 October 1942 -- 29
April 2014) Bob Hoskins was an
English actor known for playing Cockneys and gangsters. He appeared in films such as
The Long Good Friday (
1980),
Mona Lisa (
1986),
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (
1988),
Mermaids (
1990),
Hook (
1991),
Super Mario Bros. (
1993),
Nixon (
1995),
A Christmas Carol (2009),
Neverland (
2011) and in his final role in
Snow White and the Huntsman (
2012). Hoskins was the recipient prestigious
Prix d'interprétation masculine as well as winning the
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading
Role and
Golden Globe Award for
Best Actor --
Motion Picture Drama for his role in Mona Lisa (he was also nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actor) and an
International Emmy Award for best actor for his appearance on
BBC One drama
The Street in 2009.
Hoskins' acting career began in
1968 at the
Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent. He played a servant,
Peter, in a production of
Romeo and Juliet. In
1969 he worked at the
Unity Theatre. One evening, he was waiting in the Unity Theatre bar for his friend, the actor
Roger Frost, to finish an audition. Whilst drinking at the bar, he was given a script and told "You're next." He got the part, with Frost ending up his understudy. Frost recalled that "Bob was a natural. He just got up on stage and was brilliant."
His first major television role was in
On the Move (1975-6)[10] an educational series intended to tackle adult illiteracy, in which he played Alf
Hunt, a removal man who had problems reading and writing. Up to 17 million people watched the Sunday programme, eventual producer
George Auckland.
His breakthrough television role the original BBC version of
Dennis Potter's innovative six-part fantasy-drama
Pennies from Heaven (1978) as adulterous sheet music salesman
Arthur Parker.
Later, he played
Iago in
Jonathan Miller's
BBC Television Shakespeare production of
Othello.
Hoskins' performances in
British films such as The Long Good Friday (1980) and Mona Lisa (1986) won him the wider approval of the critics and, in the case of the latter, a
Cannes Award, Best Actor
Golden Globe and
BAFTA Awards and an
Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He also delivered comic turns in
Terry Gilliam's
Brazil (
1985) and Super Mario Bros. (1993). Hoskins was not initially aware that Super Mario Bros. was based on the popular video game same name. His son had asked him what film working on, and recognising it, showed Hoskins video game
Nintendo video game console. In a
2007 interview with
The Guardian, Hoskins spoke of his regret at appearing in Super Mario Bros. He revealed that despite being praised for his performance in the film, he was extremely unhappy with the film and greatly angered by his experiences making it, referring to it as the "worst thing I ever did".[3] During the late
1980s and early
1990s he appeared in advertising for the recently privatised companies of
British Gas and
British Telecom (now BT
Group). Hoskins had a small role
as a rock band's manager in the
Pink Floyd film
The Wall. He was slated to be a last-minute replacement in the film
The Untouchables star
Robert De Niro had not decided to play
Al Capone. When
De Niro took the part, director
Brian De Palma mailed Hoskins a cheque for £20,
000 with Hoskins to call up De
Palma and ask him if there were any more movies he didn't want him to be in. Hoskins appeared in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), for which he received a second Golden Globe nomination. Some of Hoskins' appearances playing opposite
Cher in Mermaids (1990), boatswain Smee to
Captain Hook in Hook (1991), and as the same character in Neverland (2011), and
Uncle Bart, the psychopathic and violent "owner" of
Jet Li in
Unleashed aka
Danny The Dog. returned television productions BBC, including Flickers,
David Copperfield as
Wilkins Micawber (
1999) and
The Wind in the Willows (
2006). played
Nikita Khrushchev political commissar film
Enemy at the Gates (
2001).Golden Globe nomination
Best Supporting Actor performance in
Mrs Henderson Presents, a film
Norma Heyman.
Hoskins also directed two films, starred in;
The Raggedy Rawney (1988) and
Rainbow (
1996). In 2009, Hoskins made a return to
British television in
Jimmy McGovern's drama serial The Street, where he played a publican who stands up to a local gangster. For this role he received his only
Emmy when he won Best Actor at the
2010 International Emmys. On 8
August 2012, Hoskins with
Parkinson's disease in 2011.
Hoskins' father communist Hoskins In 1967, aged 25, Hoskins In an interview, when asked what his parents, he said, When asked which living person despised, Hoskins
Tony Blair and claimed that "
Thatcher". film actor
Danny DeVito,
Livesey, Hoskins two children,
Alex Sarah (born
1972).
Linda Banwell, 29 April 2014, Hoskins
- published: 04 May 2014
- views: 1304