Out and About July 2022 issue199

CELEBRITY PROFILE
Brazil (1985) and Super Mario
Bros. (1993). Hoskins was
not initially aware that Super
Mario Bros. was based on
the popular video game of
the same name. His son had
asked him what film he was
working on, and recognising
it, showed Hoskins the video
game on the Nintendo video
game console. In a 2007
interview with The Guardian,
Hoskins spoke of his regret
at appearing in Super Mario
Bros. He revealed that
despite being praised for his
performance in the film, he
was extremely unhappy with
the film and greatly angered
by his experiences making it,
referring to it as the “worst
thing I ever did”. During the
late 1980s and early 1990s
he appeared in advertising
for the recently privatised
companies of British Gas
and British Telecom (now BT
Group).
Hoskins had a small role as
a rock band’s manager in the
Pink Floyd film The Wall. He
was slated to be a last-minute
replacement in the film The
Untouchables if star Robert
De Niro had not decided to
play Al Capone. When De
Niro took the part, director
Brian De Palma mailed
Hoskins a cheque for £20,000
with a “Thank You” note,
which prompted Hoskins to
call up De Palma and ask him
if there were any more movies
he didn’t want him to be in.
Hoskins appeared in
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
(1988), for which he received
a second Golden Globe
nomination. Some of Hoskins’
other notable appearances
include playing opposite
Cher in Mermaids (1990),
boatswain Smee to Captain
Hook inHook (1991), and
as the same character
in Neverland (2011),
and Uncle Bart, the
psychopathic and
violent “owner” of
Jet Liin Unleashed
aka Danny The
Dog. He returned
to television in
productions for
the BBC, including
Flickers, David
Copperfield as Wilkins
Micawber (1999) and The
Wind in the Willows (2006).
He played Nikita Khrushchev
as a political commissar
in the film Enemy at the
Gates (2001). He received a
Golden Globe nomination
for Best Supporting Actor
for his performance in Mrs
Henderson Presents, a film he
also produced with Norma
Heyman.
Hoskins also directed two
films, both of which he starred
in; The Raggedy Rawney
(1988) and Rainbow (1996). In
2009, Hoskins made a return
to British television in Jimmy
McGovern’s drama serial
The Street, where he played
a publican who stands up to
a local gangster. For this role
he received his only Emmy
when he won Best Actor at
the 2010 International Emmys.
On 8 August 2012, Hoskins
announced his retirement
from acting after being
diagnosed with Parkinson’s
disease in 2011.
Hoskins’ father was a
communist and brought up
Hoskins to be an atheist.
In 1967, aged 25, Hoskins
spent a short period of time
JULY 2022 | 59
volunteering in kibbutz
Zikim in Israel, and also
herded camels in Syria. In an
interview, when asked what
he owed his parents, he said,
“Confidence. My mum used
to say to me, ‘If somebody
doesn’t like you, f ‘em,
they’ve got bad taste.’” When
asked which living person
he most despised, Hoskins
named Tony Blair and claimed
that “he’s done even more
damage than Thatcher”. He
made light of his similarities
with film actor Danny DeVito,
whom he joked would play
him in a film about his life.
With his first wife Jane
Livesey, Hoskins had two
children, Alex (born 1969) and
Sarah (born 1972). With his
second wife Linda Banwell, he
had two more children, Rosa
(born c. 1984) and Jack (born
c. 1986).
On 29 April 2014, Hoskins
died from pneumonia. He is
survived by his wife Linda
and his four children.