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