Beloved British actor, Alan Rickman, star of Harry Potter films, Die Hard and Love Actually has died of cancer, aged 69.
Rickman became a household name after staring as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films and as Hans Gruber in Die Hard.
“The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends,” family said in a statement.
His breakout role was as scheming French aristocrat the Vicomte de Valmont in an acclaimed 1985 RSC production of Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
The actor’s other well-known films include Truly, Madly, Deeply, Sense and Sensibility and Love Actually, in which he played the husband of his frequent collaborator Emma Thompson.
Tributes for Rickman flooded in quickly, particularly from Harry Potter author J.K Rowling.
- Image Credit Twitter
“There are no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman’s death,” she tweeted. “He was a magnificent actor & a wonderful man.”
Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe also payed tribute on his Google Plus.
“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,” Radcliffe wrote.
“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.”
Emma Watson, who also starred alongside Rickman in the Harry Potter films, posted her tribute 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.”
Evanna Lynch, who was a die-hard Harry Potter fan before being cast as Luna Lovegood, took to Twitter to pay tribute.
- Image Credit Twitter
Emma Thompson, who was a regular co-star with Rickman said she was grief-stricken, calling him the “ultimate ally” and someone she “trusted absolutely”.
“Alan was my friend and so this is hard to write because I have just kissed him goodbye,” she said. “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,” she said. “He was, above all things, a rare and unique human being and we shall not see his like again.”
Many more tributes have poured in from dozens of actors and figures.
