Bob Hoskins’ Retirement

My sympathies to Bob Hoskins, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and will retire from acting. Although best known for tough guy roles, he was an actor of tremendous range who could also be endearing, gentle and funny on screen.

His breakout performance in “The Long Good Friday” is his best work, indeed one of the most potent star turns in the history of gangster films. I reviewed it here, and recommend it again to all Hoskins fans who will be missing him on screen and wishing him well with his illness.

Author: Keith Humphreys

Keith Humphreys is the Esther Ting Memorial Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University and an Honorary Professor of Psychiatry at Kings College London. His research, teaching and writing have focused on addictive disorders, self-help organizations (e.g., breast cancer support groups, Alcoholics Anonymous), evaluation research methods, and public policy related to health care, mental illness, veterans, drugs, crime and correctional systems. Professor Humphreys' over 300 scholarly articles, monographs and books have been cited over thirteen thousand times by scientific colleagues. He is a regular contributor to Washington Post and has also written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Monthly, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian (UK), The Telegraph (UK), Times Higher Education (UK), Crossbow (UK) and other media outlets.

6 thoughts on “Bob Hoskins’ Retirement”

  1. For me he’ll always be Eddie Valiant in “Who Framed Roger Rabit?”. Comedy must be played serious and Hoskins played Valiant as a conflicted man with vital concerns. He made that movie.
    To quote the old joke, “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.”

    1. Mona Lisa is number 2 on my list for Hoskins, really great film although IMHO it doesn’t hold up at the very end.

  4. I will always remember him in Long Goodbye. We saw it the day it opened in NYC and went out to toast his performance afterwards. And made it a point to see everything he was in from then on. Here’s hoping a remedy for Parkinson’s may soon be found.

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