Bob Hoskins, actor best known for playing Cockney gangsters, dies aged 71

British actor Bob Hoskins, known for his roles in films including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, has died at the age of 71 after a bout of pneumonia, his family said yesterday.

The gruff Londoner, who rose to fame in British gangster films in the 1980s and went on to have a long career as a Hollywood character actor, died in hospital on Tuesday night.

Hoskins, who was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for Mona Lisa in 1986, retired in 2012 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Samuel L. Jackson was one of the first to pay tribute, saying on Twitter that he was “truly saddened” at the loss. “A truly Gigantic talent & a Gentleman. R.I.P,” he said.

Born in Suffolk after his mother was evacuated from London during the second world war, Hoskins left school aged 15. He claimed he only got into acting by accident, after being mistakenly called to try out for a play while waiting for a friend to audition.

Hoskins began getting television and film roles in the 1970s, and came to attention in Britain as star of Pennies from Heaven, Dennis Potter’s 1978 television miniseries about a Depressionera salesman whose imagination sprouts elaborate musical numbers. It was later turned into a film starring Steve Martin.