Five Of The Best - Bob Hoskins

Still very much missed, still in a class of his own.

Nixon (1995)
You could argue that Hollywood wasn’t the best thing for Bob Hoskins. Sure, the money must have been amazing but the roles (Maid In Manhattan, Mermaids, Super Mario Bros.) rarely made best use of his talent. A rare exception was Oliver Stone’s Tricky Dick biopic which saw our man cast as J. Edgar Hoover. Essaying the (in)famous lawman as utterly rabid, Hoskins accomplishes the rare feat of intimidating Anthony Hopkins. It says a lot for Bob that his Hoover’s a more memorable creation than Leonardo DiCaprio’s.

Mona Lisa (1986)
Hoskins was Oscar nominated for his turn as George, the ex-con hired to mind Cathy Tyson’s escort. In a just world, Bob would have walked away with the award, but then if Neil Jordan’s dark drama is about anything, it’s that few people get what they want and fewer still get what they need. Quite breathtaking as a man trying to come to terms with love and loss, Bob particularly shines in his scene with his acting hero Michael Caine. But while the former Maurice Micklewhite is excellent as Mortwell, the heartless heavy at the heart of the piece, there’s no disputing the fact that Bob is the star of this show.

Last Orders (2001)
Adapted from Graham Swift’s Booker Prize-winning novel about beer and bereavement, Last Orders sees Bob again share the screen with Michael Caine. Not only that but he also squares off with David Hemmings, Tom Courtenay, Helen Mirren and Ray Winstone, holding his own opposite each of these peerless performers. That he does so without once raising his voice ought to silence those prone to write off Bob as a cock’er’nee lawd marf. As for more of Bob at his soft-spoken best look no further than TwentyFourSeven, the first of two films he made with the Martin Scorsese of the East Midlands Shane Meadows.

Pennies From Heaven (1978)
Dramatist Dennis Potter had his work cut out when it came to casting sheet music salesman Arthur Parker. Quite how hard the task was should be apparent to anyone who’s suffered through the big screen version in which Steve Martin is all at seas as the arch fantasist. For the BBC version, however, Potter had the good fortune to encounter Bob Hoskins, then best known for playing crims in cop shows. With the physique of Al Capone but the range of Olivier, Bob was so perfect for the role, you’d have thought Potter had written it with him in mind. A BAFTA nomination was the very least he deserved.

The Long Good Friday (1980)
And here it is: the ‘daddy’ of Bob Hoskins’ big screen outings. East End hard-nut Harold Shand ain’t your average gangster, mind. He’s Thatcherite to such an extent you can imagine the ‘Iron Lady’ finding him room in her cabinet alongside the ‘Chingford skinhead’ Norman Tebbit. The dictionary definition of ‘tour de force’ (don’t the French have a term for that?), the only sad thing about Shand is that, in the years that followed, Bob was often hired to play similar parts in lesser films. All of which said, no movie besides The Long Good Friday gave Bob Hoskins lines the calibre of, “The Mafia? I’ve shit ’em!”