Thursday, January 14, 2016

Today, the family of English actor Alan Rickman announced his death at the age of 69 in London from cancer. As per the family statement “he was surrounded by family and friends” at the time of death.

Rickman started his film career as an antagonist in Die Hard — in which he played the role of Hans Gruber in 1988. He was 41 at that time. He won a British Academy Film Award for his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991. He played a ghost lover of Juliet Stevenson’s character in Truly Madly Deeply.

He also portrayed Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series, an adaption of the novel series written by J. K. Rowling. Rowling tweeted “There are no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman’s death. He was a magnificent actor & a wonderful man”.

A well-known actor in Britain, he also directed My Name Is Rachel Corrie, an award-winning 2005 play based on emails of Rachel Corrie who was killed in the Gaza Strip protesting against Israel Defense Forces actions.