Bob Hoskins Interview on "Roger Rabbit and "Hook" (December 17, 1991)

Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor and film director.[1] Known for his intense but sensitive portrayals of "tough guy" characters,[2][3] he began his career on stage before making his screen breakthrough playing Arthur Parker on the 1978 BBC television serial Pennies from Heaven, which earned him the first of four BAFTA Award nominations. He subsequently played acclaimed lead roles in the films The Long Good Friday (1980), Mona Lisa (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and Mermaids (1990).

Hoskins played notable supporting performances 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 video game of the same name, and voiced Boris Goosinov in the animated film Balto (1995). He also directed two feature films: The Raggedy Rawney (1988) and Rainbow (1996).

Hoskins received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and the 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 for the same role. He 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. He retired from acting in 2012 owing to Parkinson's disease, with which he had been diagnosed the previous year, and died from pneumonia on 29 April 2014 at the age of 71.

Of his screen persona, critic Ryan Gilbey wrote "Hoskins was far from conventional leading-man material. In his moments of on-screen rage, he resembled a pink grenade. But he was defined from the outset by a mix of the tough and the tender that served him well throughout his career."[2]

Early life
Robert William Hoskins was born in Bury St Edmunds on 26 October 1942, the only child of Elsie (née Hopkins), a cook and nursery school teacher, and Robert Hoskins, a bookkeeper and lorry driver.[4] One of his grandmothers was Romani.[5] From two weeks old, he was brought up in the Finsbury Park area of London.[6] He attended Stroud Green Secondary School, where he was written off as "stupid" on account of his dyslexia.[7] He left school at 15 with a single O-Level and worked as a porter, lorry driver, plumber, and window cleaner. He started but did not complete a three-year accountancy course.[8][9] He spent six months on a kibbutz in Israel and two years tending to the camels of a Bedouin tribe in Syria.[9]