"We must have British nipples"

I was very, very sorry to hear the news yesterday that Bob Hoskins has died of pneumonia. He was 71.

Most of the obits (at least the ones in the US) lead with reminding readers that Hoskins starred in the innovative Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And of course he was great in that film; you’d think he was born rumpled and tired in a wrinkled trench coat, the quintessence of the 1940s private eye.

But it does not get better than his performance in The Long Good Friday. He’s a London gangster who’s fought his way to the top but never considered how precarious that position is. Grain by grain, the earth crumbles beneath him, and it’s all made clear to you by his face.

I could never picture Hoskins as a posh bloke; if ever there was a representative of the Common Man, he was it. He more than held his own in every film, regardless of whether he was playing opposite Judi Dench or a flock of OTT ‘Toon weasels. He was also perfect as the Peter Pan pirate Mr. Smee, whom he played a couple of times. Oh—he was a great Badger in the live-action Wind in the Willows.

And…oh, hell; he was just aces.