- Bob Hoskins was known for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Mona Lisa"
- Hoskins often played gangsters and working-class guys
- Actor first rose to fame in UK miniseries "Pennies From Heaven"
- Hoskins was straightforward, told paper he loved acting "and getting paid for it"
(CNN) -- Bob Hoskins, the pugnacious British actor known for playing gangsters, tough guys and working-class gentlemen in such films as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "The Long Good Friday" and "Mermaids," has died, his publicist Clair Dobbs said Wednesday.
He was 71.
His passing comes nearly two years after he retired from acting following a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.
Hoskins was perhaps best known for 1988's live-action and animation hybrid "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." In the comedy, he played detective Eddie Valiant, who hates "toons" -- cartoon figures who live in a separate showbiz world bordering Valiant's 1940s Los Angeles -- and takes up the task of proving the innocence of the cartoon title character, accused of murder. The film was the second-highest grossing movie of 1988, after "Rain Man."
Click through to see people who passed away in 2014. 
Oscar-nominated British actor Bob Hoskins, known for roles in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Mona Lisa," died Tuesday, April 29, at age 71, his publicist said. 
Hall of Fame basketball coach John "Dr. Jack" Ramsay, who became a television analyst years after winning a league championship with the Portland Trail Blazers, died on April 28, according to his longtime employer ESPN. Ramsay was 89. 
Former Barcelona soccer coach Tito Vilanova, who had been battling cancer, died at the age of 45, the club announced April 25. 
Country singer Kevin Sharp died from "complications due to cancer" on April 19, his mother told CNN. He was 43. 
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the middleweight boxing contender who was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in New Jersey in the 1960s, died April 20 at the age of 76, according to Win Wahrer, the director of client services for the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. 
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the influential, Nobel Prize-winning author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera," passed away on April 17, his family and officials said. He was 87. 
Jose Luis "Cheo" Feliciano, a giant of salsa music and a Puerto Rican legend, died in a car crash April 18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to police. He was 78. 
Days after being inducted into World Wrestling Entertainment's Hall of Fame, WWE superstar Ultimate Warrior died April 8. Born James Hellwig, he legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993. He was 54. 
Comedian John Pinette, 50, was found dead in a Pittsburgh hotel room on April 5. Pinette died of natural causes stemming from "a medical history he was being treated for," the medical examiner's spokesman said. An autopsy will not be done because his personal doctor signed the death certificate. 
Mickey Rooney, who started as a child star in vaudeville and went on to star in hundreds of movies and TV shows, died April 6 at the age of 93. 
DJ Frankie Knuckles, a legendary producer, remixer and house music pioneer, died March 31 at the age of 59. 
Kate O'Mara, the British actress best known for playing Joan Collins' sister on the 1980s show "Dynasty," died March 30. She was 74. 
Ralph C. Wilson Jr., the founder and longtime owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, died at age 95, the team announced March 25. 
Gwar lead singer Dave Brockie died March 23 at the age of 50, his manager said. The heavy-metal group formed in 1984, billing itself as "Earth's only openly extraterrestrial rock band." Brockie performed in the persona of Oderus Urungus. 
James Rebhorn, whose acting resume includes a long list of character roles in major films and TV shows, died March 21, his representative said. Rebhorn was 65. 
L'Wren Scott, a noted fashion designer and girlfriend of musician Mick Jagger, was found dead of an apparent suicide March 17, according to a law enforcement official. She was 49. 
Drummer Scott Asheton, who co-founded and played drums for the influential proto-punk band The Stooges, died March 15. He was 64. 
Comedian David Brenner, a regular on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show," died after a battle with cancer, a family spokesman said March 15. He was 78. 
Actress Sheila MacRae, who portrayed Alice Kramden in a 1960s revival of "The Honeymooners" on "The Jackie Gleason Show," died on March 6, according to her family. She was 92. 
Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia, seen here in 2006, died February 25 of an apparent heart attack. He was 66. De Lucia transformed the folk art of flamenco music into a more vibrant modern sound. 
Actor, writer and director Harold Ramis, seen here on the far left with fellow "Ghostbusters" Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, died at his Chicago-area home on February 24. He was 69. Other popular Ramis films include "Stripes," "Groundhog Day" and "Analyze This." 
Maria von Trapp, seen here posing with a photo of her family, was the last of the singing siblings immortalized in the movie "The Sound of Music." She died February 18 of natural causes at her Vermont home, according to her family. She was 99. 
Journalist Garrick Utley died at age 74 following a long battle with cancer, his wife of 40 years said in February. Utley worked for CNN after his 30-year career at NBC News. 
Devo guitarist Bob Casale, known by fans as "Bob 2," died February 17, his brother and band mate announced. Casale was 61. 
John Henson, the son of Jim Henson who is perhaps most notable for his portrayal of Sweetums on "The Muppets," died after a "sudden, massive heart attack," his family's company said on February 15. 
Veteran actor Ralph Waite died at 85 on February 13, according to an accountant for the Waite family and a church where the actor was a regular member. Waite was best known for his role as John Walton Sr. on 'The Waltons." 
Sid Caesar, whose clever, anarchic comedy on such programs as "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" helped define the 1950s "Golden Age of Television," died on February 12. He was 91. 
Hollywood child star Shirley Temple, who became diplomat Shirley Temple Black, died February 10 at her Woodside, California, home. She was 85. 
Joan Mondale, the wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, died on February 3, according to a statement from the family's church. 
Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment of an apparent drug overdose, law enforcement sources said February 2. 
Maximilian Schell died on February 1 in a Austrian hospital with his wife by his side, his agent Patricia Baumbauer said. He was 83. Schell was nominated for an Oscar three times. He won in 1962 for "Judgment at Nuremberg." 
Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger, known for classics such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)," died of natural causes in New York on January 27, his grandson told CNN. He was 94. 
Ruth Robinson Duccini, who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," died on January 16. She was 95. 
Former Playboy centerfold Cassandra Lynn Hensley was found dead at a friend's home in Los Angeles, the coroner there said on January 17. Hensley was 34. Her cause of death was not immediately known. 
Hiroo Onoda, center, salutes after handing over his military sword on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974. Onoda, a former intelligence officer in the Japanese army, had remained on the island for nearly 30 years, refusing to believe his country had surrendered in World War II. He died at a Tokyo hospital on January 16. He was 91. 
Russell Johnson, center, stands with Alan Hale Jr., left, and Bob Denver in an episode of "Gilligan's Island" in 1966. Johnson, who played "the professor" Roy Hinkley in the hit television show, passed away January 16 at his home in Washington state, according to his agent, Mike Eisenstadt. Johnson was 89. 
Ariel Sharon, whose half century as a military and political leader in Israel was marked with victories and controversies, died on January 11 after eight years in a coma, Israeli Army Radio reported. Sharon was 85. 
Franklin McCain, seen center wearing glasses, one of the "Greensboro Four," who made history for their 1960 sit-in at a Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter, died on January 10 after a brief illness, according to his alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University. 
Larry Speakes, who served as President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, died January 10 at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi, following a lengthy illness, according to Bolivar County Coroner Nate Brown. He was 74. 
Poet Amiri Baraka, who lost his post as New Jersey's poet laureate because of a controversial poem about the 9/11 terror attacks, died on January 9, his agent said. Baraka was 79. 
Sir Run Run Shaw, the media tycoon who helped bring Chinese martial arts films to an international audience, died at his home in Hong Kong on January 7 at age 106, the television station he founded said. 
Stage, TV and film actress Carmen Zapata, who founded the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts as a means of of introducing "the rich and eloquent history of the diverse Hispanic culture to English-speaking audiences," died on January 5 at her Los Angeles home. She was 86. 
Portugal football legend Eusebio, who was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, died from a heart attack on January 5 at age 71, said his former club, Benfica. 
Alicia Rhett, who had been one of the oldest surviving cast members of the classic film "Gone With the Wind," died on January 3 in her longtime hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, a retirement community spokeswoman said. She was 98. 
Singer Phil Everly, left -- one half of the groundbreaking, smooth-sounding, record-setting duo the Everly Brothers -- died on January 3, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 74. Photos: People we lost in 2014 He followed the turn with performances in a variety of films, including 1991's "Hook" in which he played Smee, the pirate assistant of Captain Hook; 1995's "Nixon" as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover; and 2001's "Last Orders" as the gambler friend of protagonist Michael Caine, whose pals gather to spread his ashes after his death.
Hoskins was nominated for an Oscar for 1986's "Mona Lisa" as a cabdriver who establishes a relationship with a high-priced call girl. Caine was also in the film. Hoskins won both a BAFTA and Golden Globe for his performance.
Robert Hoskins was born on October 26, 1942, in Bury St. Edmunds, England, the only child of a bookkeeper and a cook. He dropped out of school at 15 and took jobs as a truck driver and window cleaner, among others, before falling into acting by accident: A friend was auditioning for a part and Hoskins, who was waiting nearby, was asked to try out. A natural, he got the role.
"I fit into this business like a sore foot into a soft shoe," he told the UK paper The Telegraph in 2009.
In Britain, he gained fame for his performance as a Depression-era song-plugger in Dennis Potter's miniseries "Pennies From Heaven," later turned into a 1980 movie starring Steve Martin. Though he had a handful of recognizable roles in films after "Pennies" -- including 1980's "The Long Good Friday," 1982's "Pink Floyd the Wall" and 1985's "Brazil" (in which he played a gleefully malevolent repairman), it wasn't until "Roger Rabbit" that he broke through to mainstream American audiences.
That film drove him a bit nuts, he told The Telegraph.
"I think I went a bit mad while working on that. Lost my mind. The voice of the rabbit was there just behind the camera all the time," he recalled. "The trouble was, I had learnt how to hallucinate. My daughter had an invisible friend called Jeffrey and I played with her and this invisible friend until one day I actually saw the friend."
It was his daughter, however, who set him straight.
"My daughter, when I came back from filming in San Francisco, she said 'Dad, slow down, slow down. You're going barmy, mate.' And I was."
Always a steady and straightforward worker -- no "Method acting" for Hoskins -- he appeared in at least one production every year from 1972 until his retirement in 2012.
"There's two things I love about this business. One's acting and the other one's getting paid for it," he told the UK paper The Guardian in 2007. "The rest of it is a mystery to me."
In one of his last roles, he played the elf Muir in 2012's "Snow White and the Huntsman." In the 2011 TV miniseries and Peter Pan prequel "Neverland," he played Smee -- a character he had portrayed in "Hook."
But true to his working-class roots -- The Telegraph described his natural voice as "cockney as jellied eels" -- he hated to put on airs.
"I met a little old fella in Regent's Park when I was walking a character around. He said, 'You are who you are, ain't you?' and I said, 'Yeah, I am who I am.' And he said, 'That's good. I grow roses,' " Hoskins recalled. "And we sat talking about roses all afternoon. It was wonderful."
Hoskins is survived by his wife, Linda Banwell, and four children.
People we lost in 2014
CNN's Lindsay Isaac and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
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