Alan Rickman

Known for ActingBorn 1946-02-21Died 2016-01-14Acton, London, England, UK

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (February 21, 1946 – January 14, 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his deep, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), performing in modern and classical theatre productions. He played the Vicomte de Valmont in the RSC stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985, and after the production transferred to the West End in 1986 and Broadway in 1987, he was nominated for a Tony Award. Rickman's first cinema role came when he was cast as the German terrorist leader Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988). He also appeared as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), for which he received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Elliott Marston in Quigley Down Under (1990); Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991); Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (1995); Eamon DeValera in Michael Collins (1997); Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest (1999); Metatron in Dogma (1999); Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series (2001–2011); Harry in Love Actually (2003); Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005); and Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Rickman made his television acting debut playing Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1978) as part of the BBC's Shakespeare series. His breakthrough role was in the BBC television adaptation of The Barchester Chronicles (1982). He later starred in television films, playing the title character in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny (1996), which won him a Golden Globe Award, an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and Alfred Blalock in Something the Lord Made (2004). Rickman died of pancreatic cancer on 14 January 2016 at age 69. His final film roles were as Lieutenant General Frank Benson in the thriller Eye in the Sky (2015), and reprising his role as the voice of the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland (2010) in Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).Read more

Movies & web series

Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film

The Spirit of Man

Revolutionary Witness

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Portraits in Dramatic Time

Harold Pinter: A Celebration

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Something the Lord Made

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Pity in History

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Burton + Carter + Depp = Todd

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Die Hard

The Magic Touch of Harry Potter

Smiley's People

Shelley

The Movies That Made Us

The Butler

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Romeo and Juliet

King of the Hill

Sense and Sensibility

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Die Hard: With a Vengeance

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

Snow Cake

The Wildest Dream

Eye in the Sky

Love Actually

The Barchester Chronicles

Play

The Boy in the Bubble

Galaxy Quest

Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings

Dust

Dogma

Michael Collins

Truly Madly Deeply

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Alice in Wonderland

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Alice Through the Looking Glass

The Song of Lunch