Alan Rickman

British actor and director (1946–2016)

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Lived 1946–2016, aged 70United Kingdom

United Kingdom ActorsActor

Wikipedia
84 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1946–2016
Aged 70
Known for
Harry Potter and the P…
2001

Summary

Updated 2026-06-10

That voice — velvet over gravel, irony coiled in every syllable — made him the screen's most magnetic villain and its most unexpectedly tender romantic. Alan Rickman turned Die Hard's Hans Gruber into a genre benchmark, then spent two decades proving range most character actors never touch.

Biography

About

Born 21 February 1946, Rickman trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and built his reputation with the Royal Shakespeare Company before his Tony-nominated turn as Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses opened the door to film. Die Hard in 1988 made him a cinematic villain for the ages; Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves won him a BAFTA three years later. He moved between blockbuster (eight Harry Potter films as Severus Snape, starting in 2001) and smaller, sharper work — Truly, Madly, Deeply, Sense and Sensibility, Galaxy Quest — always calibrating tone with surgical care. His Rasputin for HBO…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman

said4 Dec 2008

Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theater, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.

— Interview: Alan Rickman on "Nobel Son" by Aaron Hillis, IFC.com (4 December 2008)

Alan Rickman

said12 Apr 2006

I realise as soon as that [ Snape's] ring and costume go on—something happens. It becomes alien to be chatty, smiley, open.

— Entry (12 April 2006) in Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman (2022)

Alan Rickman

said23 Sep 1993

Meanwhile the dreaded press and even in the unit publicist the unstoppable desire to compare one job with another—was X more difficult than Y? No, X=X and Y=Y. Don't be lazy.

— Entry (23 September 1993) in Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman (2022)

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