Alan Rickman - the arts world pays tribute to a British acting great
Story by Jack Foley
TRIBUTES have been paid to Alan Rickman, following the news that the actor has died at the age of 68 following a battle with cancer.
News of Rickman’s passing first emerged on Thursday, January 14, 2016, via a family statement that read: “The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends.”
Rickman became one of Britain’s best-loved acting stars thanks to roles including Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films and Hans Gruber in Die Hard.
He also won a BAFTA Award for playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and was widely perceived as one of modern cinema’s greatest villains. Many of those to pay tribute have reflected upon the way in which he changed the way bad guys were played.
Leading the tributes, TV star and BAFTA ceremony host Stephen Fry wrote: “What desperately sad news about Alan Rickman. A man of such talent, wicked charm and stunning screen and stage presence. He’ll be sorely missed.”
While Sir Michael Gambon, who appeared with Alan Rickman in Harry Potter as well as on stage, told BBC Radio 4 he was “a great friend”, adding: “Everybody loved Alan. He was always happy and fun and creative and very, very funny. He had a great voice, he spoke wonderfully well.
“He was intelligent, he wrote plays, he directed a play. So he was a real man of the theatre and the stage and that’s how I think of Alan.”
Harry Potter leading man Daniel Radcliffe wrote one of the lengthiest and most poignant tributes, saying: “Alan Rickman is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors I will ever work with. He is also, one of the loyalest and most supportive people I’ve ever met in the film industry. He was so encouraging of me both on set and in the years post-Potter.
“I’m pretty sure he came and saw everything I ever did on stage both in London and New York. He didn’t have to do that. I know other people who’ve been friends with him for much much longer than I have and they all say ‘if you call Alan, it doesn’t matter where in the world he is or how busy he is with what he’s doing, he’ll get back to you within a day’.
“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.
“As an actor he was one of the first of the adults on Potter to treat me like a peer rather than a child. Working with him at such a formative age was incredibly important and I will carry the lessons he taught me for the rest of my life and career. Film sets and theatre stages are all far poorer for the loss of this great actor and man.”
While his co-star, Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, wrote on Facebook: “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.”
Long-time friend and frequent co-star Emma Thompson wrote: “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.”
*Dame Helen Mirren, who appeared with Rickman in Anthony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre in 1998, said: “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.”
Sir Ian McKellen, who appeared with Rickman in the 1996 TV movie Rasputin, wrote on Facebook: “There is so much that is matchless to remember about Alan Rickman. His career was at the highest level, as actor on stage and screen and as director ditto. His last bequest of his film A Little Chaos and his indelible performance as Louis 14th, should now reach the wider audience they deserve.
“Beyond a career which the world is indebted to, he was a constant agent for helping others. Whether to institutions like RADA or to individuals and certainly to me, his advice was always spot-on. He put liberal philanthropy at the heart of his life.
“He and Rima Horton (50 years together) were always top of my dream-list dinner guests. Alan would by turns be hilarious and indignant and gossipy and generous. All this delivered sotto, in that convoluted voice, as distinctive as Edith Evans, John Gielgud, Paul Scofield, Alec Guinness, Alastair Sim or Bowie, company beyond compare.
“When he played Rasputin, I was the Tzar Nicholas. Filming had started before I arrived in St Petersburg. Precisely as I walked into the hotel-room, the phone rang. Alan, to say welcome, hope the flight was tolerable and would I like to join him and Greta Scacchi and others in the restaurant in 30 minutes? Alan, the concerned leading man.
“On that film, he discovered that the local Russian crew was getting an even worse lunch than the rest of us. So he successfully protested. On my first day before the camera, he didn’t like the patronising, bullying tone of a note which the director gave me. Alan, seeing I was a little crestfallen, delivered a quiet, concise resume of my career and loudly demanded that the director up his game.
“Behind his starry insouciance and careless elegance, behind that mournful face, which was just as beautiful when wracked with mirth, there was a super-active spirit, questing and achieving, a super-hero, unassuming but deadly effective.
“I so wish he’d played King Lear and a few other classical challenges but that’s to be greedy. He leaves a multitude of fans and friends, grateful and bereft.”
Ang Lee, who directed Rickman in Sense and Sensibility, called him a “brilliant actor… a soulful actor… a great human being”.
Actor David Morrissey also paid tribute, saying: “So sad to hear the news of Alan Rickman. A wonderful actor and lovely man. Tragic news.”
Harry Potter actor James Phelps, who played Fred Weasley, said on Twitter he was “shocked and sad” to hear the news. He wrote: “One of the nicest actors I’ve ever met. Thoughts and prayers with his family at this time.”
His twin brother Oliver Phelps, who played George Weasley, added: “Terribly sad news about the passing of Alan Rickman. A funny and engaging person who put a shy young actor at ease when I was on HP.”
Actor Kevin McKidd Tweeted: “Auditioned me as a v young actor… he sent the most lovely, encouraging hand written note.. I still cherish it .. And him. RIP”
London-born Rickman began his acting career in theatre, spending time with the Royal Shakespeare Company, before winning roles in TV dramas like Smiley’s People and The Barchester Chronicles in the 1980s.
But he became best known for playing villains following his transformative performance as uber-terrorist Hans Gruber in the original Die Hard – a role he recently admitted he almost turned down!
The role thrust him into Hollywood super-stardom, where he almost single-handedly cornered the market in playing the bad guy, even going so far as to win a BAFTA for his portrayal of the Sheriff of Nottingham in Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
And then there was a little-seen but memorable role alongside Tom Selleck in Outback Western Quigley Down Under as well as the role of Judge Turpin opposite Johnny Depp in 2007’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Villainy aside, he was also able to show his gentler side in films like 1990’s Truly Madly Deeply, 1995’s Sense and Sensibility and ensemble romance (and Christmas favourite) Love Actually in 2003.
As well as his BAFTA win, he earned BAFTA nominations for his roles in Truly Madly Deeply, in which he played Juliet Stevenson’s ghost lover, and for playing Colonel Brandon alongside Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility.
And he got another BAFTA nomination for portraying the calculating Eamon de Valera in 1996’s Michael Collins.
And the following year, he won a Golden Globe for best actor in a miniseries or television film for the title role in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny.
Having started in theatre, Rickman also returned to it whenever opportunity allowed, both in London and New York.
His performance as the manipulative seducer Le Vicomte in Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway in 1986 brought him the first of two Tony Award nominations. His second came for Private Lives in 2002, in which he appeared opposite Lindsay Duncan in London before the New York transfer.
Last year, Rickman released the period drama A Little Chaos, starring Kate Winslet, his second stint as director after 1997’s A Winter Guest.
His final film as an actor looks set to be Alice Through The Looking Glass, where he will reprise his role as the voice of Absolem the caterpillar in the upcoming follow-up to Disney’s 2010 hit Alice in Wonderland.
Rickman is survived by his wife Rima Horton, who he met as a teenager and married in New York in 2012.