Product Code Database
Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor and film director. Known for his intense but sensitive portrayals of "tough guy" characters, he began his career on stage before making his screen breakthrough playing Arthur Parker on the 1978 BBC Television serial Pennies from Heaven. He subsequently played acclaimed lead roles in the films The Long Good Friday (1980), Mona Lisa (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Mermaids (1990) and (2002).
Hoskins had supporting roles in Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982), The Honorary Consul (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), Brazil (1985), Hook (1991), Nixon (1995), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), A Christmas Carol (2009), Made in Dagenham (2010), and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). He portrayed Mario in the 1993 film Super Mario Bros., based on the Super Mario, and voiced Boris Goosinov in the animated film Balto (1995). Hoskins also directed two feature films: The Raggedy Rawney (1988) and Rainbow (1996).
Hoskins received the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his 1986 role in Mona Lisa. Hoskins won a Canadian Genie Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Felicia's Journey. In 2009, he won an International Emmy Award for Best Actor for his appearance on the BBC One drama The Street. Hoskins retired from acting in 2012 owing to Parkinson's disease after being diagnosed the previous year. He died in April 2014 from pneumonia.
In late 1969, he was part of Bolton's Octagon Theatre outreach troupe, which became the Ken Campbell.
Hoskins's London theatre career included portraying a "vigorous" Alfred Doolittle in a West End production of Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion opposite Diana Rigg at the Albery Theatre in 1974, and in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh at the Aldwych Theatre in 1976 as Rocky the bartender, opposite Patrick Stewart. In 1981, he starred with Helen Mirren in The Duchess of Malfi at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester and the London Roundhouse.
In 1974, Hoskins co-starred with John Thaw in the sitcom Thick as Thieves for London Weekend Television. He also appeared in On the Move (1975–1976), a BBC educational drama series directed by Barbara Derkow aimed at tackling adult illiteracy. He portrayed the character Alf Hunt, a Moving company who had problems reading and writing. According to producer George Auckland, up to 17 million people watched the series. His breakthrough in television came later in the original BBC version of Dennis Potter's six-part drama Pennies from Heaven (1978), in which he portrayed adulterous sheet music salesman Arthur Parker. He later played Iago (opposite Anthony Hopkins) in Jonathan Miller's BBC Television Shakespeare production of Othello (1981). In 1983, Hoskins voiced an advert for Weetabix and, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he appeared in advertising for British Gas and British Telecom (now BT Group).
His other television work included Flickers (1980), portraying Wilkins Micawber in David Copperfield (1999), and The Wind in the Willows (2006).
British films such as The Long Good Friday (1980) and Mona Lisa (1986) won him the wider approval of critics, the latter film winning him a Cannes Award, Best Actor Golden Globe, BAFTA Awards and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Hoskins's other film parts included Spoor in Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985), Smee in Hook (1991) and in Neverland (2011), starring opposite Cher in Mermaids (1990), portraying Nikita Khrushchev as a political commissar in Enemy at the Gates (2001) and playing Uncle Bart, the violent psychopathic "owner" of Jet Li in Unleashed (2005, aka Danny the Dog). He had a small role as the protagonist's rock and roll manager in The Wall (1982) and, in 1997, had a cameo as Ginger Spice's disguise in the Spice Girls' film, Spice World. He directed two films that he also starred in: The Raggedy Rawney (1988) and Rainbow (1996), and produced Mrs Henderson Presents alongside Norma Heyman, for which he was nominated as Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.
A high point in Hoskins's career was portraying the private investigator Eddie Valiant in the live-action/animated family blockbuster Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Hoskins was not the first choice for the role – Harrison Ford, Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy were all considered for the part.
- Film critics, among them Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, agreed that Hoskins was perfect for the role. As his character interacts and makes physical contact with animated characters in the film, Hoskins was required to take mime training courses in preparation. He experienced hallucinations for months after production on the film had ended.
- He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won a British Evening Standard Award for his performance.
Hoskins's portrayal of the Los Angeles investigator Valiant was one of several roles where he used an American accent; he was described by Trey Barrineau of USA Today as having "a knack for playing Americans better than most American actors could". Others included Rocky the bartender in the play The Iceman Cometh (1976), gangster Owney Madden in Francis Coppola's The Cotton Club (1984), Gus Klein in Wolfgang Petersen's Shattered (1991), Mario in Super Mario Bros. (1993), J. Edgar Hoover in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995), and Eddie Mannix in Hollywoodland (2006). He was slated to be the last-minute replacement in case Robert De Niro refused the role of Al Capone in The Untouchables (1987).
In a 1988 interview with Fresh Air Terry Gross, when asked about many of his roles being underworld types, Hoskins said, "I think if you've got a face like mine you don't usually wind up with the parts that Errol Flynn played, you know?"
Hoskins told The Guardian in 2007 that he regretted starring as Mario in Super Mario Bros. (1993), saying that he was extremely unhappy with the film, greatly angered by his experiences making it, and referring to it as the "worst thing I ever did". Hoskins was injured several times on set, spent most of the time with co-star John Leguizamo getting drunk to escape boredom, and was not aware that the film was based on a video game until he was informed later by his son. In a 2011 interview, he was asked, "What is the worst job you've done?", "What has been your biggest disappointment?", and "If you could edit your past, what would you change?" His answer to all three was Super Mario Bros.
In 2007, Hoskins appeared in the music video for Jamie T's single "Sheila". In 2009, he returned to television for Jimmy McGovern's drama serial The Street, playing a publican who opposes a local gangster. For this role, he received his only Emmy: Best Actor at the 2010 International Emmys. The 2011 film In Search of La Che features a character "Wermit," whose every line of dialogue is a quote from Bob Hoskins. On 8 August 2012, Hoskins announced his retirement from acting, having been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011.
Later in life, Hoskins Teetotalism. He said that his wife persuaded him to go sober.
When asked in an interview which living person he most despised, Hoskins named Tony Blair and said, "He's done even more damage than Thatcher." He hated Blair to the point that he decided in 2010, for the first time in his life, not to vote for Labour, by then led by Gordon Brown.
Hoskins often made light of his similarities with film actor Danny DeVito, whom he joked would play him in a film about his life.
Among actors who paid tribute at his funeral were Stephen Fry, Samuel L. Jackson, and Helen Mirren. Hoskins is buried in Highgate Cemetery in London.
| Also director |
| Voice acting |
| Also director |
| Cameo |
| Segment: "Pigalle" |
| Voice |
| Motion capture; voice |
| Final film role |
| + !Year !Awards !Category !Nominated work !Result !Ref. | |||||
| 1979 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Actor | Pennies from Heaven | ||
| 1981 | Evening Standard British Film Awards | Best Actor | The Long Good Friday | ||
| 1982 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Actor in a Leading Role | |||
| Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actor in a Musical | Guys and Dolls | |||
| 1984 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | The Honorary Consul | ||
| 1986 | Boston Society of Film Critics | Best Actor | Mona Lisa | ||
| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award | Best Actor | ||||
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association | Best Actor | ||||
| Valladolid International Film Festival | Best Actor | ||||
| 1987 | Academy Awards | Best Actor | |||
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Actor in a Leading Role | ||||
| Cannes Film Festival | Best Actor | ||||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | ||||
| London Film Critics' Circle | Actor of the Year | ||||
| National Society of Film Critics | Best Actor | ||||
| New York Film Critics Circle | Best Actor | ||||
| 1989 | Evening Standard British Film Awards | Best Actor | Who Framed Roger Rabbit / The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne | ||
| Golden Globe | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | |||
| 1996 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Nixon | ||
| 1997 | European Film Awards | Best Actor | Twenty Four Seven | ||
| 2000 | Canadian Screen Awards | Best Actor | Felicia's Journey | ||
| 2001 | European Film Awards | Best Actor | Last Orders | ||
| National Board of Review | Best Acting by an Ensemble | ||||
| Satellite Awards | Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film | ||||
| 2004 | DVD Exclusive Awards | Best Supporting Actor | The Sleeping Dictionary | ||
| 2005 | British Independent Film Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film | Mrs Henderson Presents | ||
| National Board of Review | Best Acting by an Ensemble | ||||
| St. Louis Film Critics Association | Best Supporting Actor | ||||
| 2006 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture | |||
| Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Supporting Actor | Son of the Mask | |||
| 2008 | Oxford International Film Festival | Best Actor | Ruby Blue | ||
| 2010 | British Independent Film Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Made in Dagenham | ||
| International Emmy Awards | Best Actor | The Street |
|
|
