British actor Alan Rickman has died in London at the age of 69, his family has confirmed. After graduating from drama school in 1974, Rickman pursued a successful career in theatre, culminating in an award-winning performance as Valmont in the premiere run of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985. Before that, however, he had made his mark on screen, playing the oleaginous Obadiah Slope in The Barchester Chronicles, the celebrated BBC adaptation of Anthony Trollope’s novels which was broadcast in 1982. Here are some of his other top performances.
Die Hard
After knocking Broadway audiences out with Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Rickman jumped straight into the deep end, cinema-wise, joining the big-budget action film ballasted by Bruce Willis, then mainly known for Moonlighting. Rickman put his suave, insinuating tones to tremendous use, turning in a definitive performance as the contemporary Eurovillain and providing generations of Brit stage actors with endless work in Hollywood blockbusters.
Truly, Madly, Deeply
Anthony Minghella’s directorial debut marked a change of pace for Rickman, a more naturalistic performance in what, admittedly, is essentially a ghost story. Rickman played Juliet Stevenson’s cellist boyfriend, who returns to “haunt” her after his death. Stevenson’s portrayal of a grief-stricken lover hanging on to what she has lost remains a towering achievement, and Rickman is the perfect foil.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Hollywood was not to be denied for long, however, and Rickman returned for a villainous role that arguably outdid even Die Hard. Although it attracted plenty of ridicule for its copious use of American accents, as well the wearying reign of theme song Everything I Do at the top of the charts, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was a massive commercial success, in no small part due to Rickman’s black-clad brilliance as the Sheriff of Nottingham — for which he won a Bafta for best supporting actor.
Close My Eyes
Another change of pace for Rickman, taking top billing over Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves in Stephen Poliakoff’s incest drama. In truth, Owen and Reeves were the leads, playing a brother and sister fatally attracted to each other, and whose messy relationship functions as a metaphor for the murky morals of late Thatcherite Britain. Rickman, however, was on top form as the rich business analyst who marries Reeves, embodying the unconventionality that enabled the powerful classes to maintain their wealth and position.
Sense and Sensibility
Another smallish but memorable role came Rickman’s way in the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility (S & S), written by Emma Thompson and directed by Ang Lee. An unexpectedly perfect rendering of Jane Austen’s novel, Rickman — as the noble Colonel Brandon — scaled it back a little to play a notionally older man who woos and wins Kate Winslet’s Marianne. In retrospect, S & S turbocharged many careers — though perhaps not Rickman’s, who was already fully established. However, it did mark the beginning of a fruitful collaboration with Thompson, who he cast in his directorial debut The Winter Guest (alongside Thompson’s mother Phyllida Law) two years later.
Galaxy Quest
Rickman showcased his gift for comedy in this immensely likeable Star Trek spoof, in which the crew of a sci-fi TV series are mistaken for genuine space warriors by a group of visiting aliens. Rickman played the show’s Spock-type character — Dr Lazarus of Tev’Meck — as a frustrated stage thespian, convinced the whole thing is beneath him. All together now: “By Grabthar’s Hammer, you shall be avenged!”
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Rickman’s leading-man days were well behind him by the time the Harry Potter films were put into production, but his casting as Severus Snape gave him a fantastically meaty role that lasted throughout the entire series. An enigmatic figure of apparently shifting loyalties, Snape evolved from a sardonic teacher of potions into a key player in Potter’s ongoing battle with Voldemort.
Love, Actually
Rickman’s position as one of British cinema’s great and good was cemented by his participation in the instant-family-favourite Love, Actually, directed by Richard Curtis at the height of his popularity. Rickman played a philandering husband (his wife played by Emma Thompson) whose sneaky purchase of a necklace for his secretary leads to a near-total unravelling of his marriage.
A Little Chaos
Rickman returned to the director’s chair nearly 20 years after The Winter’s Guest, and reunited with Kate Winslet for an 17th century-set study of royal gardening. Winslet played the lead, as unconventional garden designer Sabine de Barra who is haunted by a tragic past; Rickman cast himself as Louis XIV whose patronage leads to her success.
Eye in the Sky
Rickman’s final performance (not counting his voice-over for the forthcoming Alice in Wonderland sequel) is in this well-received British produced thriller, which focuses on the moral complexities of drone strikes in overseas conflict. Rickman plays a British military officer acting as the interface between politicians and the army, while Helen Mirren (who handed him his Bafta all those years ago) is the tough-nut colonel who wants to call in the missiles.
