Alan Rickman

Actor / Director

1 title

Date of Birth: 1946-02-21 (Passed away at age 69)
Nationality: United Kingdom
Place of birth: Acton, London, England, UK

Awards:

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. 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; 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).

Mini Bio

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. Rickman's first cinema role came when he was cast as the German terrorist leader Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988). 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). 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).

Backstage

Despite being author J.K. Rowling 's first choice to play Snape in the Harry Potter films (she actually envisioned him when writing the character), he was only given the role in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) after Tim Roth (the studio's preferred choice) backed out to star in Planet of the Apes (2001) .
Not long after he started to play Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) , J.K. Rowling told Rickman some character secrets about Snape that would not be otherwise revealed until the last book. Most significantly, for over seven years, Rickman was one of the very few people other than Rowling to know that Snape had been in love with Lily Evans (later Potter) when they were students at Hogwarts, and both Snape's protection of and antagonism toward Harry came from that. Rowling said that she shared this information with Rickman because "he needed to understand, I think, and does completely understand and did completely understand where this bitterness towards this boy, who's living proof of [Lily's] preference for another man, came from." When the directors of the films would ask him why he was playing a scene a certain way, or delivering a line in a particular manner, Rickman would simply reply that he knew something they did not.
For Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) , he turned down the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham twice before he was told he could more or less have carte-blanche with his interpretation of the character.
His portrayal of Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988) earned him a spot on the American Film Institute's list of the "100 Best Heroes/Villains" as the 46th best villain in film history.
For his death plunge down the side of the skyscraper in Die Hard (1988) , he actually dropped 20 feet onto an airbag against a green screen. Director John McTiernan had to jump first to convince Rickman to do the jump.
Although a highly successful film actor, he had frequently passed up film offers to return to the theater. The theater was a place and activity which he called "magical" and his "first love".
For the shot where Hans Gruber falls from the top of the building in Die Hard (1988) , he was actually dropped by a stuntman from a 20-foot high model onto an air bag. To get a genuine surprised look, the stuntman dropped him on the count of two instead of three.
Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, England. Became Vice-Chairman of the Academy and a member of its Artistic Advisory and Training committees and Development Board.
Kevin Smith cast him in Dogma (1999) after he stated in an interview that Smith's Chasing Amy (1997) was one of his favourite movies of the year. Rickman's presence onset caused Jason Mewes , who was going through a drug problem at the time, to be on his best behaviour. He memorised not only his lines, but the entire screenplay. In his own words, "I didn't want to piss off that Rickman dude".
Featured twice in Times Online's "The 50 Best Movie Villains" chart: had the 41st position for his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and the 10th as Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988) .

Movies

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