Background
Hoskins was born on October 26, 1942 in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England; the son of Robert Hoskins and Elsie Lillian Hoskins.
Bob Hoskins and his second wife Linda Banwell.
Bob Hoskins and his daughter Rosa.
Bob Hoskins in the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".
Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins in a 1981 production of John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi".
Hoskins was born on October 26, 1942 in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England; the son of Robert Hoskins and Elsie Lillian Hoskins.
Hoskins left school at the age of 15 with a single O-Level.
Hoskins worked as a porter, lorry driver, plumber, window cleaner and trained as an accountant before his acting career. Also in 1967, Bob spent a short period of time volunteering in kibbutz Zikim in Israel and herded camels in Syria. In 1968, he made his debut at the Victoria Theatre, in which he portrayed a servant named Peter in a production of Romeo and Juliet. Then in 1969, when Bob accompanied a friend to an audition at London’s Unity Theatre, he was handed a script and was offered the lead after doing a cold reading.
Hoskins spent several years with the Royal National Theatre and portrayed Iago in a 1981 televised version of Shakespeare’s "Othello". His first major television role was in the literacy-education TV program "On the Move". He became more successful in television after he played Depression-era sheet-music salesman in musical-fantasy TV miniseries "Pennies from Heaven", 1978. Bob later played Wilkins Micawber in the network's 1999 airing of "David Copperfield" and slipped into the role of the hermit-like Badger in "The Wind in the Willows", 2006.
His most famous roles were as the London gangster Harold Shand in the film The Long Good Friday, 1980 and as an ex-convict assigned to chauffeur an elegant call girl in the film "Mona Lisa", 1986. Hoskins was often cast as non-English historical figures, including Benito Mussolini in "Mussolini and I", 1985, J. Edgar Hoover in "Nixon", 1995, Manuel Noriega in "Noriega: God’s Favorite", 2000, Nikita Khrushchev in "Enemy at the Gates", 2001 and Pope John XXIII in "The Good Pope", 2003.
In addition, he starred in such films as "The Cotton Club", 1984, "Sweet Liberty", 1986, "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne", 1987, "Heart Condition", 1990, "Hook", 1991, "Felicia’s Journey", 1999, "Don Quixote", 2000, "Mrs. Henderson Presents", 2005, "Made in Dagenham", 2010, "Neverland", 2011 and "Snow White and the Huntsman", 2012. Also he directed two films, including "The Raggedy Rawney", 1988 and "Rainbow", 1996.
In 2012, Bob retired from acting career after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011. On 29 April 2014, he died of pneumonia at a hospital in London.
Quotations:
"If you are going to do a film properly you have to give yourself completely to it."
"Monogamy is a possibility - and a necessity. Kids have got to have something they can rely on. You have got to have something you rely on."
"What we do does not define who we are. What defines us is how well we rise after falling."
In 1967, Bob Hoskins married Jane Livesey, with whom he divorced in 1978. They have a daughter, Sarah and a son, Alex. Then in 1982, he married Linda Banwell. They have a daughter, Rosa and a son, Jack.