“I can teach you how to
bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame,
brew glory, and even put a stopper in death.”
Actor and theatre-director Alan Rickman has passed away at
69 years old.
Born in Acton, London to a working class family, Alan
Rickman studied art and design in his early years before taking on an interest
in acting. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and while there,
studied Shakespeare and worked for established actors such as Nigel Hawthorne
and Sir Ralph Richardson…along with winning several acting prizes.
Moving on professionally, he worked with various British
theatre groups before landing a role in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company’s
production of LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES, which earned him a Tony Award
nomination.
Seeking a film career, he went to Los Angeles in the late
1980’s, and within the first few days of his arrival, was cast as the terrorist
Hans Gruber in John McTiernan’s DIE HARD (1988). Rickman’s portrayal of the
cold and educated vicious villain was a perfect foil to Bruce Willis’
everyman-hero, and the performance would earn him a spot in the American Film
Institute’s 100 Heroes and Villains list; helping elevate DIE HARD to a classic
status.
He was a diverse actor who would play romantic leads in
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995), and TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY (1991). But he couldn’t
resist playing the Big Bad again, and in 1991 would play the Sheriff of
Nottingham in ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, opposite Kevin Costner. The
performance would earn him a BAFTA award. He would dabble in television, and as
the “mad monk” in the HBO production of RASPUTIN: DARK SERVANT OF DESTINY
(1996), Rickman would win a Golden Globe, a SAG award, and an Emmy.
In 2001, he would become a permanent figure in pop culture
when he accepted the role of the ambiguous character Professor Severus Snape in
the HARRY POTTER franchise, which would last eight films. The character would
eventually take a tragic, heroic turn…making Rickman’s Snape…a character which
was hated early on…beloved.
Other notable roles included MICHAEL COLLINS (1996), DOGMA
(1999), GALAXY QUEST (1999), LOVE ACTUALLY (2003), THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO
THE GALAXY (2005), PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER (2006), SWEENEY TODD
(2007), and THE BUTLER (2013). He voiced the caterpillar in Tim Burton’s ALICE
IN WONDERLAND in 2010, and would reprise the role in the 2016 sequel.
Empire magazine
would rank him no. 59 in the Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time in 1997, and would
also rank him the 19th best actor over the age of 50.
*
Like most, this Blogger was introduced to Alan Rickman in
DIE HARD, where the well-dressed man with the most unique voice and delivery ever
heard became a foe on-screen that was to be feared and respected. Rickman
changed the way the old mustache-twirling bad guy operated, and the industry
would pattern their baddies after him for decades to come. As great as he was
in DIE HARD, this Blogger holds Rickman’s performance as the crooked Sheriff of
Nottingham in PRINCE OF THIEVES as his personal favorite. This Sheriff wasn’t
just a bad guy, but a flawed one who made mistakes and acted human; once again
turning the typical bad-guy role upside down. As the tragic character-hero in
the HARRY POTTER franchise, Rickman would generate more emotion than any other
character, and would become a study in heroes and how they operate. And here is
where Rickman’s massive cross-generational impact can be felt. The young will
remember him as Snape, while the old will relate him to Hans Gruber…two
characters that he made his. And perhaps
the way both generations will remember him can be summed up in the famous line
he spoke in HARRY POTTER:
“Always.”
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