Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born February 21, 1946) is a British stage and
screen actor.Born in Hammersmith, London to a working-class family. His
father died when he was 8 years old. Rickman was a graphic designer before
entering the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London in the early
1970s.
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Since then, he has been a constant presence on the British stage. He
made a particular impression as the male lead in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare
Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and became known to
television audiences as Mr. Slope in the BBC's 1980s adaptation of
Barchester Towers.
He mostly plays period roles in British movies, whilst on the Hollywood
screen he is generally typecast as the over-the-top villain. His campy
performance as the snarling German terrorist Hans Gruber in 1988's all-action
blockbuster Die Hard best illustrates the latter, and his gentle portrayal
of Colonel Brandon in the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility is the best
example of the former. He has also shown himself as a straight comedy actor
in roles in films such as Dogma and Love Actually. In recent years he has
come to the attention of a younger audience through his appearances as the
villainous Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies. More recently, Rickman
has been cast as Marvin's voice in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
movie. Coincidentally, Rickman and David Learner, who occupied Marvin's
costume for the TV adaptation and stage shows, were at RADA together.
Musically, Rickman has been immortalised in a song composed by English
songwriter Adam Leonard. He also "narrated" the song Bell on the album
Tubular Bells II.
Although he has never married, he has been romantically linked to Rima
Horton since their days at the Chelsea College of Art. Horton is a
politician affiliated with the Labour Party.
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