RIP Bob Hoskins April 30th, 2014 |
Remembering Bob Hoskins, our Eddie Valiant on Roger Rabbit. He was a delightful man, with that wonderful working-class British actors ethic " It's just a job", so different from our stuck-up Hollywood types. This photo is from our Roger Rabbit Xmas Party, Bob and his wife came and had a lovely time chatting with us. Bob would offer you one of his cigarettes in his native cockney " Fancy a ciggee? "
Bob was a natural mime. He acted so well against the imaginary rabbit, that after awhile he didn't need the stand in doll or a stick with an eye-sight line. When you worked with his footage, he really looked like he was looking someone in the eye. You just had to match his eye direction with the character.
In the scenes of him doing an end-over-end handstand, that is not a stunt double. That is really Bob. He was a circus tumbler as one of his odd-jobs before stardom. At one point he was so poor he lived in his Vauxhall sedan parked outside his agents office.
Besides Eddie Valiant, I loved his work in The Long Good Friday, The Cotton Club, Mona Lisa, Zulu Dawn, Michael, Hook. He stole every scene with his rascally rough smile and twinkle in his eye.
RIP Bob. You were one of a kind.