Actor played Die Hard villain, Harry Potter meanie with panache
British actor Alan Rickman, whose career ranged from the Royal Shakespeare Company to the Harry Potter films, has died. He was 69.
Rickman’s family said the actor died Jan. 14 after a battle with cancer.
Born Feb. 21, 1946 to a workingclass London family and trained at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Rickman was often cast as the bad guy. With his rich, languid voice he could invest evil with wicked, irresistible relish.
His breakout role was as scheming French aristocrat the Vicomte de Valmont in an acclaimed 1985 RSC production of Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons dangereuses.
Film roles included the villain Hans Gruber in Die Hard in 1988; a deceased lover who consoles his bereaved partner in 1990’s Truly Madly Deeply; the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991; and a wayward husband in 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually. Millions know him from the Potter films, in which he plays the Dark Arts teacher Severus Snape, who is either a nemesis or an ally — possibly both — to the titular teenage wizard.
Here’s what Daniel Radcliffe tweeted about his co-star: “Alan Rickman is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors I will ever work with. He is also, one of the loyalist and most supportive people I’ve ever met in the film industry. He was so encouraging of me both on set and in the years post-Potter.
“I’m pretty sure he came and saw everything I ever did on stage both in London and New York. He didn’t have to do that. I know other people who’ve been friends with him for much much longer than I have and they all say “if you call Alan, it doesn’t matter where in the world he is or how busy he is with what he’s doing, he’ll get back to you within a day.
“People create perceptions of actors based on the parts they played so it might surprise some people to learn that contrary to some of the sterner (or downright scary) characters he played, Alan was extremely kind, generous, self-deprecating and funny. And certain things obviously became even funnier when delivered in his unmistakable double-bass.
“As an actor he was one of the first of the adults on Potter to treat me like a peer rather than a child. Working with him at such a formative age was incredibly important and I will carry the lessons he taught me for the rest of my life and career. Film sets and theatre stages are all far poorer for the loss of this great actor and man.”
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Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling tweeted that “there are no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman’s death. He was a magnificent actor (and) a wonderful man.”
Emma Thompson, who starred alongside Rickman in films including Sense and Sensibility and Love Actually, praised Rickman’s “humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness” and called him “the finest of actors and directors.”
“I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do with his face next,” she told Newsweek.
Rickman’s screen roles were remarkably varied, and included the upright Col. Brandon in Ang Lee’s 1995 film version of Sense and Sensibility and Irish politician Eamon de Valera in 1996 historical drama Michael Collins.
He had a sideline in comic scifi, bringing knowingness and fun to the spoof Galaxy Quest in 1999 and delivering existential ennui as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 2005.
He appeared frequently onstage, earning Tony Award nominations for Les Liaisons dangereuses in 1987 and Noel Coward’s Private Lives in 2002.
Rickman was also a filmmaker, directing and co-starring opposite Kate Winslet in 2014 costume drama A Little Chaos. Seventeen years earlier, he had directed Thompson and her mother Phyllida Law in The Winter Guest.
Frequently charming in person, Rickman was, by his own account, uncompromising as an actor. During the filming of Harry Potter, he maintained Snape’s air of haughty disdain even off camera. “The animal in me takes over,” Rickman said in 2011 when he appeared on Broadway in Theresa Rebeck’s play Seminar. “You’re as polite as possible, but it’s not always possible.”
Rickman is survived by his partner of 50 years, Rima Horton, whom he married in 2012. Funeral details weren’t immediately available.