Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his distinctive deep, languid voice, he trained at RADA (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.

Alan Rickman’s first film role came when he was cast as the German terrorist leader Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988). He appeared as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He earned critical notice for his leading roles in Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991) and An Awfully Big Adventure (1995) before gaining acclaim for his supporting roles as Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (1995), and Éamon de Valera in Michael Collins (1996). He also gained attention for his comedic roles in Dogma (1999), Galaxy Quest (1999), and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005). He went on to play Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series (2001–2011), and during this time he also appeared in Love Actually (2003), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Alice in Wonderland (2010). His final film roles were in CBGB (2013), Eye in the Sky (2015), and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).

On television, Alan Rickman made his acting debut playing Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1978) as part of the BBC’s Shakespeare series. His breakthrough role was Obadiah Slope in the BBC adaptation of The Barchester Chronicles (1982). He later starred in television films, playing the titular character in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny (1996), which won him a Primetime Emmy Award, and Alfred Blalock in Something the Lord Made (2004). In 2009, The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Rickman died of pancreatic cancer on 14 January 2016 at age 69.

What is his full name and who are his parents?

Alan Sydney Patrick Rickman was born on February 21, 1946, in London, to a working-class family, as the son of Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett; born December 6, 1911, in Pontypridd, Glamorganshire, Wales — died February 16, 1997, in Leicester, Leicestershire). His father, Bernard William Rickman (born April 1914, in Fulham, Middlesex — died September 9, 1954), was a factory worker, painter, and decorator. Additionally, his older brother David was working as an aircraft fitter during Alan’s birth, amidst the Second World War. His heritage includes English, Irish, and Welsh roots; his father was Catholic, and his mother was Methodist. More details about Rickman’s family, education, and films will below to featured on the Bluesky Social Code Platform.

Early life and education

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman was born on 21 February 1946 in the Acton district of London, to housewife Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett) and factory worker, house painter and decorator, and former Second World War aircraft fitter Bernard William Rickman. His mother was Welsh, and his paternal grandmother was Irish. Rickman would later say in April 2015, “I was talking to Sharleen Spiteri about being a Celt, how you smell each other out, because my mother’s family is Welsh. There’s not a lot of English blood in me.” His father was Catholic and his mother was a Methodist. He had two brothers named David and Michael and a sister named Sheila.

Rickman was born with a tight jaw, contributing to the deep tone of voice and languid delivery for which he would become famous. Rickman himself said that a vocal coach told him he had a “spastic soft palate”. When he was eight years old, his father died of cancer, leaving his mother to raise him and his three siblings mostly alone. According to biographer Maureen Paton, the family was “rehoused by the council and moved to an Acton estate to the west of Wormwood Scrubs Prison, where his mother struggled to bring up four children on her own by working for the Post Office”. Margaret Rickman married again in 1960, but divorced Rickman’s stepfather after three years.

Before Rickman met his longtime partner Rima Horton at age 19, he stated that his first crush was at 10 years old on a girl named Amanda at his school’s sports day. As a child, he excelled at calligraphy and watercolour painting. Rickman was educated at West Acton First School followed by Derwentwater Primary School in Acton, and then Latymer Upper School in London through the Direct Grant system, where he became involved in drama. Rickman went on to attend Chelsea College of Art and Design from 1965 to 1968. He then attended the Royal College of Art from 1968 to 1970. His training allowed him to work as a graphic designer for the Royal College of Art’s in-house magazine, ARK, and the Notting Hill Herald, which he considered a more stable occupation than acting; he later said that drama school “wasn’t considered the sensible thing to do at 18”.

Following graduation, Rickman and several friends opened a graphic design studio called Graphiti, but after three years of successful business, he decided that he was going to pursue acting professionally. He wrote to request an audition with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), which he attended from 1972 until 1974. While there, he supported himself by working as a dresser for Nigel Hawthorne and Ralph Richardson.

Career

80s

After graduating from RADA, Rickman worked extensively with British repertory and experimental theatre groups in productions including Chekhov’s The Seagull and Snoo Wilson’s The Grass Widow at the Royal Court Theatre, and appeared three times at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1978, he performed with the Court Drama Group, gaining roles in Romeo and Juliet and A View from the Bridge, among other plays. While working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), he was cast as Jaques in As You Like It, contributing an essay about his process to the RSC’s book Players of Shakespeare 2. His breakthrough role was in The Barchester Chronicles (1982), the BBC’s adaptation of Trollope’s first two Barchester novels, as the Reverend Obadiah Slope.

Alan Rickman was given the male lead, the Vicomte de Valmont, in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Howard Davies. After the RSC production transferred to the West End in 1986 and Broadway in 1987, Alan Rickman received both a Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award nomination for his performance.

In 1988, Rickman played the antagonist Hans Gruber in the action thriller Die Hard in what was his first feature film. Starring opposite Bruce Willis, Rickman’s portrayal earned him critical acclaim and a spot on the AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Heroes & Villains list as the 46th best villain in film history. Rickman later revealed he almost did not take the role as he did not think Die Hard was the kind of film he wanted to make.

90s

In 1990, he played the Australian Elliot Marston opposite Tom Selleck in Quigley Down Under (1990). The following year, Alan Rickman was cast as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Kevin Reynolds’s film adaptation of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). In the film, Rickman acted opposite Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman. Entertainment Weekly proclaimed that while Robin Hood “left critics and movie goers underwhelmed, Rickman’s gleefully wicked villain became the summer’s most talked-about performance”. For his performance he received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Upon winning the award Rickman stated, “This will be a healthy reminder to me that subtlety isn’t everything”. Despite gaining acclaim within the media for his ability to portray villainous roles in films Rickman took issue with being typecast as a villain. During this decade he would portray a range of characters that would defy media perceptions.

Rickman soon started to play leading roles such as Man, in the enigmatic film Closet Land (1991) alongside Madeleine Stowe; and he also was the romantic role of Jamie in the independent romance film Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991) which earned him another BAFTA Award nomination. The film directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Rickman and Juliet Stevenson proved to be a critical success. Rickman was able to break out of the mold of the movie villain with critic Roger Ebert noting, “The man is Rickman, who you will look at on the screen, and know you have seen somewhere, and rattle your memory all during the movie without making the connection that he was the villain in Die Hard.”

Rickman also starred in Stephen Poliakoff’s Close My Eyes (1991) with Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves. Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Chicago Reader praised the film and all three lead performances, calling them “edgy, powerful, and wholly convincing, with Rickman a particular standout.” All three of Rickman’s performances in Close My Eyes, Truly Madly Deeply and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves would win him the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor, and the same performances along with his work in Quigley Down Under would also win him the London Film Critics’ Circle Award for Actor of the Year.

A few years later he was cast as Colonel Brandon in Ang Lee’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility (1995). The film also starred Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, and Kate Winslet. Thompson noted that Rickman could express the “extraordinary sweetness [of] his nature,” as he had played “Machiavellian types so effectively” in other films. For his performance, Rickman earned his third BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination, and his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. The following year he portrayed Éamon de Valera in the Neil Jordan period drama, Michael Collins starring Liam Neeson, Julia Roberts, and Stephen Rea. Rickman earned his fourth BAFTA Award nomination. In 1996, Rickman starred as the “mad monk” Rasputin in the HBO television biopic Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny, a role for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.

Rickman directed The Winter Guest at London’s Almeida Theatre in 1995 and the film version of the same play, released in 1997, starring Emma Thompson and her real-life mother Phyllida Law. Rickman’s stage performances in the 1990s include Antony and Cleopatra in 1998 as Mark Antony, with Helen Mirren as Cleopatra, in the Royal National Theatre’s production at the Olivier Theatre in London, which ran from October to December 1998. Rickman appeared in Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings (2000), a BBC One Christmas special with Victoria Wood, playing an aged colonel in the battle of Waterloo who is forced to break off his engagement to Honeysuckle Weeks’ character.

During his career, Rickman played comedic roles, including as Sir Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus in the cult classic sci-fi parody Galaxy Quest (1999) with Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Sam Rockwell, and Tony Shalhoub. Rockwell said that Rickman “was very instrumental in making sure the script hit the dramatic notes, and everything had a strong logic and reason behind it”. He also played the angel Metatron, the voice of God, in Kevin Smith’s Dogma (also 1999).

2000s

In 2001, he first appeared as Severus Snape, the potions master, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. His portrayal of the role throughout the Harry Potter series (2001–2011) was dark, but the character’s motivations were not clear early on.

In 2002, Alan Rickman performed onstage in Noël Coward’s romantic comedy Private Lives. After its successful run at the Albery Theatre in the West End it transferred to Broadway and ended in September 2002; he reunited with his Les Liaisons Dangereuses co-star Lindsay Duncan and director Howard Davies in the Olivier and Tony Award-winning production. Rickman also voiced the character of “King Philip” in the 2002 King of the Hill episode, “Joust Like a Woman”.

With Katharine Viner, Rickman compiled the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie and directed the premiere production at the Royal Court Theatre in London, which opened in April 2005. He won the Theatre Goers’ Choice Awards for Best Director. Rickman befriended the Corrie family and earned their trust, and the show was warmly received. But the next year, its original New York production was “postponed” over the possibility of boycotts and protests from those who saw it as “anti-Israeli agit-prop”. Alan Rickman denounced “censorship born out of fear”. Tony Kushner, Harold Pinter and Vanessa Redgrave, among others, criticised the decision to indefinitely delay the show. The one-woman play was put on later that year at another theatre to mixed reviews, and has since been staged at venues around the world. Despite the adverse reaction from pro-Israel groups, overall, the play was very popular, especially in London. “I never imagined that the play would create such acute controversy,” Alan Rickman said. He added, “Many Jews supported it. The New York producer was Jewish and we held a discussion after every performance. Both Israelis and Palestinians participated in the discussions and there was no shouting in the theater. People simply listened to each other.”

In 2003, Alan Rickman starred in the ensemble Christmas-themed romantic comedy Love Actually (2003) as Harry, the foolish husband of Emma Thompson’s character. The film, written and directed by Richard Curtis, has been called “a modern classic” by The Independent. In 2005, he lent his voice to Marvin the Paranoid Android in science fiction comedy The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005) starring Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, and Zooey Deschanel. In 2007 he played the egotistical, Nobel Prize-winning father in the black comedy Nobel Son (2007).

In early 2005, My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play composed from Corrie’s journals and emails from Gaza and compiled by Alan Rickman and journalist Katharine Viner, in a production directed by Alan Rickman, was presented in London and later revived in October 2005. The play was to be transferred to the New York Theatre Workshop, but when it was postponed indefinitely, the British producers denounced the decision as censorship and withdrew the show. It finally opened Off-Broadway on 15 October 2006 for an initial run of 48 performances.

Alan Rickman was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for his work as Dr. Alfred Blalock in HBO’s Something the Lord Made (2004). He also starred in the independent film Snow Cake (2006) with Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss, and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (also 2006), directed by Tom Tykwer. He appeared as Judge Turpin in the critically acclaimed Tim Burton film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) alongside Johnny Depp, and his Harry Potter co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Timothy Spall.

In 2009, Alan Rickman was awarded the James Joyce Award by University College Dublin’s Literary and Historical Society. In October and November 2010, Rickman starred in the eponymous role in Henrik Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin alongside Lindsay Duncan and Fiona Shaw. The Irish Independent called Rickman’s performance breathtaking.

2010s

In 2010, he starred in the BBC television production The Song of Lunch alongside Emma Thompson. That same year he provided the voice of Absolem the Caterpillar in Tim Burton’s film Alice in Wonderland (2010).

Rickman again appeared as Severus Snape in the final instalment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). Throughout the series, his portrayal of Snape garnered widespread critical acclaim. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said Rickman “as always, makes the most lasting impression”, while Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine called Alan Rickman “sublime at giving us a glimpse at last into the secret nurturing heart that … Snape masks with a sneer.” Media coverage characterised Rickman’s performance as worthy of nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His last appearance as Snape saw him receive award nominations in 2011, including at the Saturn Awards and the Scream Awards.

In November 2011, Alan Rickman opened in Seminar, a new play by Theresa Rebeck, at the John Golden Theatre on Broadway. Rickman, who left the production in April, won the Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Favorite Actor in a Play and was nominated for a Drama League Award. Alan Rickman starred with Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz in Gambit (2012) by Michael Hoffman, a remake of the 1966 film. In 2013, he played Hilly Kristal, the founder of the East Village punk-rock club CBGB, in the CBGB film with Rupert Grint.

In 2014, he directed and starred in the costume drama film, A Little Chaos starring Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, and Stanley Tucci. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film received mixed reviews with its critics consensus reading, “Stylish and well-acted without ever living up to its dramatic potential, A Little Chaos is shouldered by the impressive efforts of a talented cast.” The following year he starred in Gavin Hood’s Eye in the Sky (2015) starring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, and Barkhad Abdi. This would be Rickman’s final onscreen performance. The film debuted at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival to great acclaim, receiving a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95%, based on 175 critics, with the consensus being, “As taut as it is timely, Eye in the Sky offers a powerfully acted – and unusually cerebral – spin on the modern wartime political thriller.”

Alan Rickman’s Illness and Death

Throughout 2005, Rickman received treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer, culminating in a prostatectomy in January 2006. The operation coincided with the casting for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and he deliberated over whether to return to the series, but decided in favour, stating: “The argument that wins is the one that says: See it through. It’s your story.”

In August 2015, Rickman had a minor stroke, which led to the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He revealed that he had terminal cancer to only his closest confidants. On 14 January 2016, he died in London at the age of 69, just over a month short of his 70th birthday. His remains were cremated on 3 February 2016 in the West London Crematorium in Kensal Green. His ashes were given to his wife, Rima Horton. His final two films, Eye in the Sky and Alice Through the Looking Glass, were dedicated to his memory, as was The Limehouse Golem, which would have been his next project.

Family

In 1965, at age 19, Rickman met 18-year-old Rima Horton, who became his partner in the early 1970s and would later be a Labour Party councillor on Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council (1986–2006) and an economics lecturer at Kingston University in London. In 2015, Rickman confirmed that they had married in a private ceremony in New York City in 2012.

Rickman was the godfather of fellow actor Tom Burke. Rickman’s brother Michael is a Conservative Party district councillor in Leicestershire.

Rickman was an active patron of the research foundation Saving Faces and honorary president of the International Performers’ Aid Trust, a charity that works to fight poverty amongst performing artists all over the world.

When discussing politics, Rickman said he “was born a card-carrying member of the Labour Party.” His last recorded work prior to his death was for a short video to help Oxford University students raise funds and awareness of the refugee crisis for Save the Children and Refugee Council. According to his diaries, Rickman declined a CBE in 2008.

Rickman was political until his last days. His last onscreen performance was with Helen Mirren in the drama Eye in the Sky, which he had described as “a film about the moral responsibilities governments face regarding the use of drones.” In 2003, after reading published emails by Rachel Corrie, a US activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, he was motivated to produce My Name Is Rachel Corrie which was well received and popular in London.

Before his mother married her biological father, she married Reginald Cory in Hammersmith in 1931 and remained with him unofficially until marrying Bernard Rickman in 1940. He had an older brother, David Bernard John (born September 1944), who married Christine J. Morrissey in 1970 and worked as a graphic designer, residing together in Watford, Hertfordshire; a younger brother, Michael Keith (born November 21, 1947), who is a professional tennis coach and also serves as a Councillor on the Harborough District Council for the Conservative Party, living in Medbourne, Leicestershire; and a younger sister, Sheila J. Innes (born February 15, 1950). Like Alan, she won a scholarship to the Godolphin and Latymer School and attended the Kingsway Princeton College in London. She currently works as an office manager in a company called PRN and lived in Bordon, Hampshire, with her husband and daughters until 2009.

When Alan Rickman was eight years old, his father passed away at the age of forty from lung cancer on September 9, 1954, leaving his mother to raise him and his three siblings mostly on her own. In 1960, she married Kenneth WJ Edginton, but they divorced three years later. “There was a love in his life,” Rickman later said.

Alan Rickman attended Derwentwater Primary School in Acton, London, which followed the Montessori education method. He continued on a scholarship to the Latymer Upper School and then pursued Graphic Design education at Chelsea College Of Art and Design.

After spending three years at Chelsea College, Alan Rickman attended the Royal College of Art for postgraduate studies and started a successful graphic design company called Graphiti with his friends before his passion for theater led him to audition at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Continuing his education at RADA on a scholarship, he embarked on a professional acting career that spanned almost 40 years, encompassing stage, screen, and television, and even transitioning to directing.

How did Alan Rickman start in films? Is he from a theater background?

After leaving RADA, Alan Rickman’s early acting performances were through experimental theater groups. During this time, he also began to appear in productions of Shakespeare plays. He soon joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and made a breakthrough on TV in “The Barchester Chronicles.” He also rapidly started landing lead roles on stage and was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in the adaptation of “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.”

In 1988, Alan Rickman made his Hollywood breakthrough by playing the German villain Hans Gruber opposite Bruce Willis in “Die Hard.” His performance is now considered one of the most iconic portrayals of a villain in cinema history. This established him as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after bad guys, while proving that there was a lucrative niche for him in such roles. In 1991, he played the Sheriff of Nottingham in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” and won a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He is also known for “stealing the show” from Kevin Costner in that film.

In the ’90s, he appeared in films like “Truly, Madly, Deeply,” “Sense and Sensibility,” and “Quigley Down Under.” During this period, Alan also continued to appear on stage, earning widespread praise for a number of London and New York-based theater productions. Despite his success in playing villains, Alan eventually became unsatisfied with being typecast in these roles. This led to him taking on a series of comedic roles in films like “Galaxy Quest.”

Harry Potter

In 2001, Alan Rickman entered the world of films by portraying Severus Snape in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” And he arguably took on one of the most defining roles of his career. He continued to play this role until the release of the final film in 2011.

In many ways, this role exposed Alan Rickman to an entirely new generation of young fans. In the 2000s, Alan also continued to appear on stage and starred in films like “Love Actually,” “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

By the 2010s, Alan’s productivity had begun to decline. After the release of the final “Harry Potter” film, he received praise for his portrayal of Snape throughout the entire series.

He continued to perform on stage in plays like “Seminar.” In 2014, he directed and starred in a film called “A Little Chaos.” His last major live-action film was the well-received 2015 production “Eye in the Sky.”

What remains of Alan Rickman?

In 2020, it was reported that Alan Rickman’s New York West Village penthouse was listed for sale at $1.69 million. Alan purchased the residence in 2009 for just under $1 million. The penthouse is 925 square feet in size and features 12-foot ceilings and a fireplace.

Alan Rickman Filmography

Film	Year
Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary Appearing	2019
Alice Through the Looking Glass Voice	2016
Eye in the Sky Actor	2015
A Little Chaos Director, Screenwriter, Actor	2014
A Promise Actor	2013
CBGB Actor	2013
Lee Daniels’ The Butler Actor	2013
Muse of Fire Appearing	2013
BAM150 Appearing	2012
Falls the Shadow: The Life and Times of Athol Fugard Appearing	2012
Gambit Actor	2012
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 Actor	2011
Alice in Wonderland Voice	2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 Actor	2010
The Song of Lunch Actor	2010
The Wildest Dream Voice	2010
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Actor	2009
Bottle Shock Actor	2008
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Actor	2007
Nobel Son Actor	2007
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Actor, Director	2007
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Actor, Voice	2006
Snow Cake Actor	2006
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Actor	2005
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Voice	2005
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Actor	2004
Something the Lord Made Director, Actor	2004
Love Actually Actor	2003
The Actors Actor	2003
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Actor	2002
Blow Dry Actor	2001
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Actor	2001
The Search for John Gissing Actor	2001
Help! I’m a Fish Voice	2000
Play Actor	2000
Dark Harbor Actor	1999
Dogma Actor	1999
Galaxy Quest Actor	1999
Judas Kiss Actor	1998
The Winter Guest Director, Screenwriter	1997
Michael Collins Actor	1996
Rasputin Actor, Director	1996
An Awfully Big Adventure Actor	1995
Sense and Sensibility Actor	1995
Mesmer Actor	1994
Fallen Angels, Vol. 1 Actor	1993
Bob Roberts Actor	1992
Close My Eyes Actor	1991
Closet Land Actor	1991
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Actor	1991
Truly Madly Deeply Actor	1991
Quigley Down Under Actor	1990
Spirit of Man Actor	1989
The January Man Actor	1989
Die Hard Actor	1988

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