RIP, but the guy was a hack. I was surprised by how little respected he was as a physicist by other physicists; saw a documentary of people shytting on his science.
He played his part to a T though.
I wouldn't say a hack, but more like someone who was a greater communicator than fundamental discoverer. His Black Hole entropy stuff was interesting but he was never a serious candidate for a Nobel since his theoretical work in cosmology didn't touch what people like Kip Thorne, etc. are doing. Same with Michio Kaku.
A lot of the big stuff these days in cosmology is experimental with dark matter/energy, cosmic microwave background analysis, expolanets, etc. Theory hasn't moved super far past general relativity, Big Bang, and Hubble and most new knowledge is due to observation.