Alan Rickman Dies, London-Born Actor was "Giant" of Stage and Screen

BALTIMORE, Maryland January 14, 2016 - One of England's greatest dramatic actors - indeed, one of the world's greatest dramatic actors - has died.  Alan Rickman, 69, died Thursday of cancer in a London hospital.  Although he didn't begin acting in films until he was 41, his list of credits is long.  He is best known, surely, for his role as Professor Severus Snape in the long-running Harry Potter film series.  The actors and actresses in that series are uniformly stunned at the death of a man all of them admired and loved.  Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed Harry Potter, said on his google plus page that "film and theatre stages across the world are all far poorer for the loss of this great actor and man".

According to Radcliffe, Rickman stepped forward and showed support for him even when he was a child on the set of the Harry Potter fillms.  Rickman was "one of the loyalest and most supportive people I've ever met in the film industry," he said.  Rickman came and saw everything that Radcliffe has done since filming of the Potter series ended in 2011, including his current stage production in New York.  

Back in 2011, Rickman penned a good bye to fans of the Harry Potter films:


'I have just returned from the dubbing studio where I spoke into a microphone as Severus Snape for absolutely the last time. On the screen were some flashback shots of Daniel, Emma, and Rupert from ten years ago. They were 12. I have also recently returned from New York, and while I was there, I saw Daniel singing and dancing (brilliantly) on Broadway. A lifetime seems to have passed in minutes.

Three children have become adults since a phone call with Jo Rowling, containing one small clue, persuaded me that there was more to Snape than an unchanging costume, and that even though only three of the books were out at that time, she held the entire massive but delicate narrative in the surest of hands.

It is an ancient need to be told in stories. But the story needs a great storyteller. Thanks for all of it, Jo."

The Telegraph in London called Rickman "a giant," and Dame Helen Mirren was quoted as saying that "Alan was a towering person, physically, mentally and as an artist.
"He was utterly distinctive, with a voice that could suggest honey or a hidden stiletto blade, and the profile of a Roman Emperor.  He was also a great friend, generous and social. He will be very missed by many."

While Rickman's character, Professor Snape, was perceived as evil and scary, Radcliffe said that Rickman's actual personality was the polar opposite. 

"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."

The great actress, Emma Thompson, who performed with Rickman in many films, including Harry Potter, also starred in Rickman's directorial debut, "The Winter Guest," in 1996.  Said Thompson:

"Alan was my friend and so this is hard to write because I have just kissed him goodbye.  What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. His capacity to fell you with a look or lift you with a word. The intransigence which made him the great artist he was - his ineffable and cynical wit, the clarity with which he saw most things, including me, and the fact that he never spared me the view. I learned a lot from him.  He was the finest of actors and directors. I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do with his face next. I consider myself hugely privileged to have worked with him so many times and to have been directed by him.  He was the ultimate ally. In life, art and politics. I trusted him absolutely.  He was, above all things, a rare and unique human being and we shall not see his like again."

And Emma Watson, who played Hermoine in the Potter films, said "I'm very sad to hear about Alan today. I feel so lucky to have worked and spent time with such a special man and actor.  I'll really miss our conversations. RIP Alan. We love you."

According to Wikipedia, Rickman is survived by his wife and life-long companion, Rima Horton, two brothers, David (b. 1944) and Michael (b. 1947), and a sister, Sheila (b. 1950).  Rickman was born in Acton in West London, the son of a factory worker and a housewife.  He attended Derwentwater Primary School, in Acton, and then the Derwentwater Junior School, where he won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in London.  It was at Latymer where he became involved in drama.  After leaving Latymer, he attended Chelsea College of Art and Design and then the Royal College of Art. This education allowed him to work as a graphic designer for the radical newspaper, the Notting Hill Herald.  He opened a graphic design studio with several friends after graduation, but left the successful business after three years to pursue an acting career.  Wikipedia says that Rickman  was awarded a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and attended there from 1972 to 1974, studying Shakespeare and working as a dresser for Sir Ralph Richardson and Nigel Hawthorne. He was awarded three prizes during these years, including the Emile Littler Prize, the Forbes Richardson Prize and the Bancroft Gold Medal.


After the RADA, he worked his way up the acting ladder by gaining roles in a long series of British stage and screen productions, eventually being cast as the male lead, the Vicomte de Valmont, in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Howard Davies.  His performance there drew rave reviews and opened the door to roles in several Hollywood movies, including Die Hard, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves and, of course, the Harry Potter films.


I should add a personal note about two of my favorite Rickman roles.  Rickman made a film in 2004 for, I think, HBO, in which he portrayed legendary Johns Hopkins Doctor Alfred Blalock, a pioneer in the fields of cardiac surgery and pediatric cardiac surgery.  The film is set in 1940's Baltimore. Rickman is brilliant.  His character is a native of the Jim Crow South and you would think, honestly, that Rickman was born in the American South and was raised there during the second world war.  I don't think many people have seen this movie.  Everyone should see it.  Mos Def is also in the movie.

Another role that Rickman took on ended up being one in which he gave a tour de force performance that nobody thinks about, talks about or writes about.  In the 1996 film, "Michael Collins," Rickman played longtime Irish Prime Minister Éamon de Valera.  It was during the time period dramatized in the movie that de Valera gave the go ahead for the assassination of Michael Collins even though both were working fervently for Irish independence.  Hence, Rickman's role is one of complexity and darkness and Rickman out does himself in it.