RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Let's remember now actor Bob Hoskins, who died this week. He's probably best known for playing the private eye in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," opposite a very sexy cartoon, Jessica Rabbit.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Bob Hoskins was a perfect big-screen gangster. He was short, but looked mean in a tall fedora.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Hoskins was a veteran of England's Royal National Theatre. He won over critics in the film "Mona Lisa." He played George, an ex-con who falls for the working girl he chauffeurs around London.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: The role won him an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: The story is he got into acting by accident. He was watching a friend audition for a play when someone handed him a script. Hoskins landed the part. And although he was British, he played a lot of Americans. Oliver Stone cast him as a nasty J. Edgar Hoover in the movie "Nixon."</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Actor Bob Hoskins, in one of his many roles. He was 71 when he died on Tuesday.
Bob Hoskins died this week after being hospitalized with pneumonia. He starred in memorable films such as The Long Good Friday, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mona Lisa and The Cotton Club. He was 71.