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Bob Hoskins

Bob Hoskins brought a grounded, forceful presence to the screen, equally convincing as a hard man, a weary investigator or a character caught somewhere between menace and vulnerability. Born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 26 October 1942 and raised from infancy in London’s Finsbury Park area, he left school at 15 and worked as a porter, lorry driver, plumber and window cleaner before acting became his profession. His career began on stage in 1968, when he played Peter in a Victoria Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet. Further theatre work included Alfred Doolittle in a 1974 West End production of Pygmalion and Rocky the bartender in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1976 production of The Iceman Cometh. That grounding helped shape a performer who could make even heightened characters feel solid and lived-in. Hoskins found his television breakthrough as sheet-music salesman Arthur Parker in Dennis Potter’s Pennies from Heaven. Wider critical recognition followed through British films including The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. His performance in Mona Lisa won awards at Cannes, the Golden Globes and BAFTA, as well as earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. His range stretched well beyond British crime drama. He played Spoor in Brazil, Smee in Hook, Nikita Khrushchev in Enemy at the Gates and appeared opposite Cher in Mermaids. His most widely recognised role was private investigator Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where mime training helped him interact convincingly with animated characters. The performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination and a British Evening Standard Award. Hoskins also worked behind the camera, directing and starring in The Raggedy Rawney and Rainbow, and producing Mrs Henderson Presents. Across stage, television and film, he built a career around character rather than polish: direct, physical and capable of finding the human weight inside colourful roles. He died in 2014.