Profile photo of Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman

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).

Filmography

1988
Die Hard

as Hans Gruber

Movie
2002
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

as Severus Snape

Movie
2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

as Severus Snape

Movie
2005
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

as Severus Snape

Movie
2011
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

as Severus Snape

Movie
2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

as Severus Snape

Movie
2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

as Severus Snape

Movie
1999
Galaxy Quest

as Alexander Dane

Movie
2010
Alice in Wonderland

as Absolem / Caterpillar (voice)

Movie
1999
Dogma

as Metatron

Movie
2001
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

as Severus Snape

Movie
2004
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

as Severus Snape

Movie
2003
Love Actually

as Harry

Movie
2007
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

as Judge Turpin

Movie
1995
Sense and Sensibility

as Colonel Christopher Brandon

Movie