A barrel-chested, stage-trained, Cockney actor, Bob Hoskins first won international attention as a sheet-music salesman prone to fantasy in the Dennis Potter-scripted British TV series "Pennies from Heaven" (1978). After spending part of his youth traveling and holding a variety of odd jobs—like circus fire eater, to name one—he drifted into acting almost by accident. Success on stage led to work in British films—"The National Health" (1973)—and television—the 1974 sitcom "Thick as Thieves". Hoskins was a delight as the pioneering filmmaker in the series "Flickers" (ATV, 1980) and delivered an