27 Facts About Bob Hoskins

1.

Bob Hoskins's work included lead roles in films and television series such as Pennies from Heaven, The Long Good Friday, Mona Lisa, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mermaids, Super Mario Bros.

2.

Bob Hoskins directed two feature films: The Raggedy Rawney and Rainbow.

3.

Bob Hoskins was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the same role.

4.

Bob Hoskins 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.

5.

Robert William Bob Hoskins was born in Bury St Edmunds on 26 October 1942, the son of Elsie, a cook and nursery school teacher, and Robert Bob Hoskins, a bookkeeper and lorry driver.

6.

Bob Hoskins attended Stroud Green Secondary School, where he was written off as "stupid" on account of his dyslexia.

7.

Bob Hoskins left school at 15 with a single O-Level and worked as a porter, lorry driver, plumber, and window cleaner.

8.

Bob Hoskins started but did not complete a three-year accountancy course.

9.

Bob Hoskins spent six months on a kibbutz in Israel and two years tending to the camels of a Bedouin tribe in Syria.

10.

Bob Hoskins's acting career began in 1968 at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, in a production of Romeo and Juliet in which he played a servant named Peter.

11.

Bob Hoskins portrayed the character Alf Hunt, a removal man who had problems reading and writing.

12.

Bob Hoskins later played Iago in Jonathan Miller's BBC Television Shakespeare production of Othello.

13.

In 1983, Bob Hoskins voiced an advert for Weetabix and, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he appeared in advertising for British Gas and British Telecom.

14.

Bob Hoskins had a small role as the protagonist's rock and roll manager in The Wall and, in 1997, had a cameo as Ginger Spice's disguise in the Spice Girls' film, Spice World.

15.

Bob Hoskins directed two films that he starred in: The Raggedy Rawney and Rainbow, 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.

16.

Bob Hoskins experienced hallucinations for months after production on the film had ended.

17.

Bob Hoskins was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won a British Evening Standard Award for his performance.

18.

Bob Hoskins was slated to be the last-minute replacement in case Robert De Niro refused the role of Al Capone in The Untouchables.

19.

Bob Hoskins told The Guardian in 2007 that he regretted starring as Mario in Super Mario Bros.

20.

Bob 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.

21.

In 2007, Bob Hoskins appeared in the music video for Jamie T's single "Sheila".

22.

On 8 August 2012, Bob Hoskins announced his retirement from acting, having been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011.

23.

Bob Hoskins often made light of his similarities with film actor Danny DeVito, who he joked would play him in a film about his life.

24.

Bob Hoskins divided his time between the Hampstead area of London and Chiddingly, East Sussex.

25.

Bob Hoskins said that his wife persuaded him to go sober.

26.

On 29 April 2014, Bob Hoskins died of pneumonia at a London hospital, aged 71.

27.

Bob Hoskins was survived by his wife Linda and his four children.