“Forgotten Hollywood”- Bob Hoskins Loses Parkinson’s Fight
Manny P. here…
Bob Hoskins was a short, rotund, bespectacled Brit with an immense amount of talent. He is best known for portraying a variety of cockneys and gangsters. In between, he effortlessly worked as a private investigator with an animated rabbit named Roger. He left us a treasure trove of great performances.
Hoskins’ acting career began in 1969 at the Unity Theatre. His first major television role was in On the Move, an educational series intended to tackle adult illiteracy. In the same year, he came to wider attention in the original BBC version of Dennis Potter’s drama Pennies from Heaven.
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 if star Robert De Niro had not decided to play Al Capone. When De Niro took the part, director Brian De Palma mailed Hoskins a check for £20,000 with a Thank You note, which prompted Hoskins to call up De Palma and ask him if there were any more movies he didn’t want him to be in.
Hoskins’ performances in British films such as The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa won him the wider approval of the critics and, in the case of the latter, a Cannes Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Hoskins appeared in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for which he received a second Golden Globe nod. Other roles included performances in Mermaids, Hook, Nixon, A Christmas Carol, Neverland, a remake of The Lost World, and finally, in Snow White and the Huntsman.
Hoskins announced his retirement from acting in 2012, due to his ongoing battle with Parkinson’s disease. The pugnacious Bob Hoskins was 71.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2014 at 12:48 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
You must be logged in to post a comment.