Alan Rickman – British film and theater actor

Alan Rickman was a British film and theater actor, film director. He was a winner of the Golden Globe, Emmy and BAFTA awards.
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman was born on February 21, 1946 in Hammersmith, London to Margaret Doreen Rose (nee Bartlett), a housewife, and Bernard Rickman, a factory worker. Alan had elder brother David (born in 1944), a graphic designer, and younger brother Michael (born in 1947), a tennis coach, and younger sister Sheila (born in 1949). When Alan was eight years old, his father died of lung cancer, and the mother was left alone with four children. She soon married again, but divorced after three years of marriage.
For success in studies Rickman received a scholarship at the prestigious London School Latymer. In the same school, he first appeared on stage. Later he studied at Chelsea College of Arts and Royal College of Art. Rickman worked as a designer for Notting Hill Herald newspaper.

After graduation Alan and his five friends opened a design studio in Soho. At the age of 26 Rickman decided to become an actor. He entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
His first major role in the theater was the role of Vicomte de Valmont in the play Dangerous Liaisons. From 1985 to 1987, the play was being staged in England, and then was shown on Broadway and was a great success.
After the premiere in New York producers Joel Silver and Charles Gordon offered him a role in the film Die Hard with Bruce Willis. The film was released in 1988.
The role in the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1992) showed that Rickman was very good at playing villains.

The first “positive” role he was given in the melodrama Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991). The most romantic role was the role of Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (1995), film adaptation of Jane Austen.
In 1996, Rickman starred in the movie Rasputin, for which he received Golden Globe and Emmy awards.
In 1997, Alan tried his hand as a director. He staged, and then made the film The Winter Guest based on the play by Sharman MacDonald. The debut was a success and the film was awarded two prizes at the Venice Film Festival.
He played Professor Severus Snape in the film adaptation of novels by Joanne K. Rowling Harry Potter.
In 2006, Rickman played a major role in the film Snow Cake and the role of the merchant in the film adaptation of Patrick Suskind’s novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

In 2007, the actor played the role of a judge in Tim Burton’s film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
In 2010, he played in the television movie The Song of Lunch based on the eponymous poem by Christopher Reid.
In 2012, he played the role of Lord Lionel Shabandar in the comedy Gambit.
In 2014 Rickman was a director of the film A Little Chaos, in which the actor also played the role of the French king Louis XIV.
Alan Rickman died on January 14, 2016 in London.

Personal life
In 1965 Rickman met Rima Horton (he was 19 and she was 18). They lived together since 1977.
After 47 years of dating the couple legalized their relationship. They secretly married in 2012 in New York. The couple didn’t have children.

Alan Rickman – British film and theater actor