Bob Hoskins dead at 71

CHRIS JACKSON/Getty Images

Bob Hoskins dead at 71
(Image credit: CHRIS JACKSON/Getty Images)

Actor Bob Hoskins has died after a bout of pneumonia. He was 71 years old.

After spending nearly a decade appearing in a wide variety of British TV shows, Hoskins earned substantial critical acclaim for his starring performance opposite Helen Mirren in the 1980 crime drama The Long Good Friday. Six years later, he earned an Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA Award for his starring role in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa, in which he played a cabbie shuttling a prostitute from client to client.

But for a generation of children who grew up in the late '80s and early '90s, Hoskins will always be Who Framed Roger Rabbit detective Eddie Valiant and Super Mario Bros' Mario. (He'd probably prefer you didn't recall that last one; in a 2011 Q&A with The Guardian, he called Super Mario Bros. the worst job he's done, his biggest disappointment, and the one thing he wishes he could change about his past.)

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Hoskins' more recent appearances included supporting roles in Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol and the miniseries Neverland. His final performance was in the 2012 fantasy blockbuster Snow White and the Huntsman; shortly after its release, he announced he'd be retiring from acting after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.