Alan Rickman has an unmistakable screen presence. He infuses depth into any role he portrays, be it on stage, TV or in films. His characters are unforgettable, for example Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, Hans Gruber of Die Hard (1988) or the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1990).
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman was born to Irish and Welsh parents in London in 1946. His father died when Rickman was just eight, leaving his mother to raise four children. Rickman loved acting but graduated as a graphic designer from the Chelsea College of Art and Design as it was a more stable profession he could count on in case he failed as an actor.
At 26, he bagged a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and, after three years, he had already won several awards. He experimented with several theatre groups, attended international festivals and travelled extensively. In 1985, during his stint with the Royal Shakespeare Company production Les Liaisons Dangereuses, he went to Broadway and won a Tony Award nomination.
Rickman picked up varied roles in Britain, as Eamon de Valera in the film Michael Collins (1996) with Liam Neeson; as Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (1995), and as Jamie in Truly Madly Deeply (1990). His flair for comedy was seen in films like Dogma (1999), Galaxy Quest (1999) and Love Actually (2003). He bagged a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his performance in Rasputin in 1996. In Hollywood, he was generally typecast as a villain after his huge success in Die Hard. In the Harry Potter films, he played the role of Potions professor Severus Snape.
He continued to act in stage performances including Private Lives, Anthony and Cleopatra and Hamlet. He even directed Emma Thompson and her mother in The Winter Guest. In 2004, Rickman directed the play My Name is Rachel Corrie, for which he won the Theatre Goers’ Choice Awards for Best Director. Rickman also won a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In 1995, he turned down the offer to play the villain in the James Bond film GoldenEye in an attempt to stay away from negative roles.
Rickman has also been part of some musical works such as an album of Shakespeare’s sonnets called When Love Speaks and the song “In Demand”. He is considered one of Britain’s most distinguished and versatile stage and screen actors.
Rickman lives with Rima Horton, his partner for 40 years, and a former lecturer at the London School of Economics. They live in London and do not have any children.
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