I had originally planed to feature Brian Dennehy as this weeks Awesome Fat Guy of the Week but I found him lacking. This turned out to be quite beneficial. As I had recently found a show from 1974 called "Thick as Thieves", I haven't finished it yet but I like what I've seen so far. The star of that show was none other than Bob Hoskins. I had always planned to to do a post on Mr. Hoskins and now seems like a perfect time. As such Bob is the Awesome Fat Guy of the Week. As for the picture above, what can I say? I saw that "I'm sexy" picture and just found it too great to not use. Look at it and question your sexuality.
Before we begin proper, I have a confession to make. I don't consider Mr. Hoskins to be Fat. Not capital F Fat. He is, as far as I can tell, a stocky man with a strong build. He does have a bit of a gut and isn't the most muscularly defined, but he is far from being Fat. The farthest I would go is to say that he is chubby. A word that should never be applied to a grown man. As such I'll go with fat. Whether he is Fat or fat does not matter. Awesome is always Awesome. With that out of the way let's get to the good stuff.
Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. was born on October 26, 1942 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. He was raised in Finsbury Park in North London. His mother, Elsie Lillian, was a cook and nursery school teacher, while his father, Robert William Hoskins, Sr., was a bookkeeper and lorry (truck) driver.
Mr. Hoskins career started in the late 60s. While sitting in a pub Bob was told to go upstairs and audition for a play. He took this advice and landed the role. More roles on stage and the small screen followed. These roles included numerous smaller roles, the aforementioned Thick as Thieves, and a role in On the Move. The latter was an educational series that was made to tackle the issue of adult illiteracy. Bob played the role of Alf, a removal man who was functionally illiterate. That same year he starred in the BBC version of Pennies from Heaven. After that he played Iago on Jonathan Miller's BBC production of Othello.
Bob's career wasn't limited to the stage and TV. He had his first movie role in 1975 with a small role in Royal Flash. As with his time on TV the smaller roles led to larger ones. Such as in The Long Good Friday in 1980, The Honorary Consul in 1983, and The Cotton Club in 1984. Many of these roles were met with critical praise. In fact Hoskins won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in Mona Lisa. He was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for the role, but lost to Paul Newman for his role in "The Color of Money".
Hoskins was originally cast in roles that required a harder edge to them, such as gangsters, tough guys, and psychopaths. That doesn't mean that he has been adverse to liter roles. His comedic timing and likable demeanor have been displayed since early in his career. His most well known comedic role came in 1988 when he played Eddie Valiant in Roger Rabbit. I don't need to tell you about that movie. It is both universally known and loved. I will say that Hoskins received a second Golden Globe nomination for his role.
Bob Hoskins's second most well known comedic role was as Mario in the Super Mario Brothers movie. It was not as good as Roger Rabit. In fact I would guess that as universally loved as that film is, this one is hated just as much. Hoskins has gone on record as saying that he didn't enjoy filming the movie and has stated he regretted the movie. You may be surprised to find out that his performance is one the few aspects of the movie that has received praise. I enjoyed the movie. It was stupid but so is the story of the game. I consider it a guilty pleasure. Don't judge me.
During the 90's Hoskins found himself in even higher demand. He started the decade off by starring alongside Cher in Mermaids in 1990. A year later he would play the character of Smee in the Steven Spielberg directed Hook. In an interesting twist Hoskins played the character of Smee again 20 years later in Neverland for the SyFy channel. In 1995 Bob played J. Edgar Hoover in Oliver Stone's Nixon. Not content to work with award winning directors Bob took the time to appear in a episode of the cult classic show Tales from the Crypt. He ended the decade by playing Sancho Panza to John Lithgow's Don Quixote.
Hoskins spent the first decade of the 2000's splitting his time between TV and movies. He has portrayed Manuel Noriega, Pope John XXIII, and Geppetto on the small screen while starring alongside the likes of Jude Law, Ralph Fiennes, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Adrien Brody, Charlize Theron, and Jet Li on the big screen. To say he is in good company would be an understatement.
More recently Mr. Hoskins can be seen on British TV, in the drama The Street. His work on the show was rewarded with his first Emmy, which he won for Best Actor at the 2010 International Emmys.
Bob HoskinsHoskins has said that he owes his confidence to his mother who told him "If somebody doesn't like you, fuck 'em, they've got bad taste.". That is probably the best advice that you can ever give somebody. It worked for Mr. Hoskins. Look at all that he has accomplished in his life. He is an Awesome actor and definitely deserves to be the Awesome Fat Guy of the Week. Even if he isn't all that fat.
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