Bob Hoskins death: He leaves a rich and varied legacy

There's plenty that stands the test of time in this back-catalogue

Sean O'Grady
Wednesday 30 April 2014 12:45 EDT
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I guess for my generation Bob Hoskins was something of a fixture on TV and in great, great films.

When I was a kid he made his debut as an illiterate removal driver in the BBC series On the Move. It was a light drama series that was more ground-breaking than it sounds, and made a real contribution at the time to the uncomfortably large number of people who, maybe through misfortune at home, had left school unable to read or write and spent their rest of the lives shamefully disguising the fact. Then there was Pennies From Heaven, Denis Potter’s brilliantly innovative play in which Hoskins, as sheet music salesman Arthur, Gemma Craven and Cheryl Campbell gamely mimed and aced their way through the 1930s. The Long Good Friday was a cinematic tour de force, paired again with a formidable leading lady, Helen Mirren; Mona Lisa was in the same vein while the mixed live action/animation Who Killed Roger Rabbit was another Hoskins contribution to innovation, and sheer entertainment. (The sultry Jessica Rabbit was the powerful femme fatale in that one). For that abiding legacy, I for one am very sad he is no longer around.

@_seanogrady

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