In 1983, Hoskins voiced an advert for Weetabix and, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he appeared in advertising for British Gas and British Telecom (now BT Group). He later played Iago (opposite Anthony Hopkins) in Jonathan Miller's BBC Television Shakespeare production of Othello (1981). His breakthrough in television came later in the original BBC version of Dennis Potter's 6-part drama Pennies from Heaven (1978), in which he portrayed adulterous sheet music salesman Arthur Parker. According to producer George Auckland, up to 17 million people watched the series. He portrayed the character Alf Hunt, a removal man who had problems reading and writing. His first major television role was in On the Move (1975–1976), an educational drama series directed by Barbara Derkow aimed at tackling adult illiteracy. In 1981, he starred with Helen Mirren in The Duchess of Malfi at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester and the London Roundhouse.
Hoskins's London theatre career included portraying a "vigorous" Alfred Doolittle in a West End production of Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion opposite Diana Rigg at the Albery Theatre in 1974, and in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh at the Aldwych Theatre in 1976 as Rocky the bartender, opposite Patrick Stewart. In late 1969, he was part of Bolton's Octagon Theatre outreach troupe, which became the Ken Campbell Roadshow. Frost considered Hoskins "a natural", recalling that "he just got up on stage and was brilliant". A year later, while waiting in the bar at Unity Theatre, London, for his friend the actor Robert Frost, Hoskins found himself being auditioned for a play after being handed a script and told, "You're next." His audition was successful and Frost became his understudy. Hoskins's acting career began in 1968 at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, in a production of Romeo and Juliet in which he played a servant named Peter. He retired from acting in 2012 owing to Parkinson's disease, with which he had been diagnosed the previous year, and died from pneumonia on 29 April 2014 at the age of 71. In 2009, he won an International Emmy Award for Best Actor for his appearance on the BBC One drama The Street.
He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the same role. Hoskins received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his role in Mona Lisa. He also directed two feature films: The Raggedy Rawney (1988) and Rainbow (1996).
(1993), and supporting performances in Brazil (1985), Hook (1991), Nixon (1995), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), A Christmas Carol (2009), Made in Dagenham (2010), and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). His work included lead roles in films and television series such as Pennies from Heaven (1978), The Long Good Friday (1980), Mona Lisa (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Mermaids (1990), and Super Mario Bros. Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor.