I like how everyone in this thread is acting like he just died.
It's still a shame that he's having to retire though, I really liked him; a few months ago, I caught a glimpse of an old Alan Alda movie he was in, and was surprised at how young and thin he was, considering he's usually a rather roly-poly man. But his acting in general has always been rather impressive, I like how he can switch from his natural British accent (which sounds really cockney), to a non-descript American accent, to a Brooklyn/Nooyawk accent, to a Russian accent, etc. In addition to Roger Rabbit, I also really enjoyed the Super Mario Bros. movie he and John Leguizamo did, despite knowing that they both HATED doing that movie, so much that Hoskins keeps bringing back up that it was the worst thing he ever did in his career. Yeah, I wish it didn't have to be this way, but things like this happen... it does bring to mind, I wonder how Michael J. Fox has been doing these days, I haven't seen him in forever, but I know his Parkinsons has gotten really bad in recent years.
Oh, and I said it before, but I'll say it again: I DO NOT want another Roger Rabbit! I'm sorry, but that movie was a groundbreaking, stand-alone classic that need not be touched and infected with sequelitis.