1946-02-21 Acton, London, England, UK
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman 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).
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Here We Are Kings: The Making of 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' | Self (archive footage) | 2022-11-28 |
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Alice Through the Looking Glass | Absolem / Caterpillar (voice) | 2016-05-25 |
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Eye in the Sky | Lieutenant General Frank Benson | 2015-09-07 |
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A Little Chaos | King Louis XIV | 2015-03-26 |
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Richard Attenborough: A Life in Film | Self | 2014-08-25 |
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Muse of Fire | Self | 2013-09-26 |
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CBGB | Hilly Kristal | 2013-10-11 |
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A Promise | Karl Hoffmeister | 2013-09-04 |
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Dust | Todd | 2013-10-24 |
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The Butler | Ronald Reagan | 2013-08-16 |
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Gambit | Lionel Shahbandar | 2012-04-25 |
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BAM150 | Self | 2012-04-27 |
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Falls the Shadow: The Life and Times of Athol Fugard | Self | 2012-05-28 |
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 | Severus Snape | 2011-07-12 |
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The Boy in the Bubble | The Storyteller (voice) | 2011-07-08 |
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Portraits in Dramatic Time | 2011-07-05 | |
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Alice in Wonderland | Absolem / Caterpillar (voice) | 2010-03-03 |
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The Song of Lunch | He | 2010-10-08 |
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The Wildest Dream | Noel Odell (voice) | 2010-08-06 |
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | Severus Snape | 2010-11-17 |
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Harold Pinter: A Celebration | Self | 2010-01-24 |
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | Severus Snape | 2009-07-15 |
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Sonnet Number 12 | (voice) | 2009-12-31 |
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Burton + Carter + Depp = Todd | Self | 2008-04-01 |
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Bottle Shock | Steven Spurrier | 2008-09-05 |
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Nobel Son | Eli Michaelson | 2007-04-28 |
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Severus Snape | 2007-07-08 |
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Judge Turpin | 2007-12-20 |
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Snow Cake | Alex Hughes | 2006-09-08 |
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | Richis | 2006-09-13 |
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Marvin (voice) | 2005-04-28 |
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Severus Snape | 2005-11-16 |
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Something the Lord Made | Dr. Alfred Blalock | 2004-05-30 |
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Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson | Other Voices (voice) | 2004-09-04 |
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The Magic Touch of Harry Potter | Self | 2004-06-11 |
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Severus Snape | 2004-05-31 |
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Love Actually | Harry | 2003-09-07 |
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Severus Snape | 2002-11-13 |
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Judge Not: In Defense of Dogma | Self | 2002-09-03 |
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Play | Man | 2001-07-14 |
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Severus Snape | 2001-11-16 |
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The Search for John Gissing | John Gissing | 2001-11-01 |
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Blow Dry | Phil Allen | 2001-03-01 |
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Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings | Captain George Fallon | 2000-12-25 |
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Babitsky's War | Narrator | 2000-09-04 |
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Galaxy Quest | Alexander Dane | 1999-12-25 |
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Dogma | Metatron | 1999-10-04 |
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Dark Harbor | David Weinberg | 1999-12-31 |
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Judas Kiss | Detective David Friedman | 1998-09-16 |
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The Winter Guest | Man in street | 1997-12-27 |
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Michael Collins | Eamon de Valera | 1996-10-25 |
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Rasputin | Grigori Rasputin | 1996-03-23 |
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Lumière et Compagnie | (segment "John Boorman") | 1995-12-20 |
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Sense and Sensibility | Colonel Christopher Brandon | 1995-12-13 |
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An Awfully Big Adventure | P.L. O'Hara | 1995-05-11 |
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Mesmer | Franz Anton Mesmer | 1994-08-25 |
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Bob Roberts | Lukas Hart III | 1992-09-04 |
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Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast | 1992-12-25 | |
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Truly Madly Deeply | Jamie | 1991-05-03 |
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Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves | Sheriff of Nottingham | 1991-06-14 |
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Close My Eyes | Sinclair | 1991-11-22 |
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Closet Land | Interrogator | 1991-03-06 |
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Robin Hood: The Myth, the Man, the Movie | Self | 1991-06-13 |
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Quigley Down Under | Elliott Marston | 1990-10-17 |
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The January Man | Ed | 1989-01-13 |
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7 Deadly Sins: Stage Acting | Narrator (voice) | 1989-01-17 |
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Revolutionary Witness | Jacques Roux | 1989-12-31 |
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Benefactors | 1989-01-02 | |
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The Spirit of Man | Israel Yates | 1989-08-23 |
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Die Hard | Hans Gruber | 1988-07-15 |
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Wetherby | TV Commentator (archival footage) | 1985-06-19 |
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Busted | Simon | 1983-01-28 |
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Romeo and Juliet | Tybalt | 1978-12-03 |