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Alan Rickman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007) |
| Alan Rickman | |
|---|---|
 Alan Rickman at the Tribeca Film Festival |
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| Birth name | Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman |
| Born | February 21, 1946 Hammersmith, London, England, UK |
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born February 21, 1946) is an acclaimed, award-winning English film, television and stage actor. He is probably best known for his role as a darkly charismatic Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, as well as his portrayal of Hans Gruber in Die Hard. He also featured prominently as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 blockbuster, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
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Rickman was born in Hammersmith, London to a working-class family. His mother, Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett), was a Methodist Welsh homemaker, and his father, Bernard Rickman, was an Irish Catholic factory worker.[1][2] His father died when Rickman was eight, leaving his mother to raise their four children mostly alone. She married again, but divorced his stepfather after three years. "There was one love in her life".[2] After graduating from Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith, Rickman attended Chelsea College of Art and made his way as a graphic artist in Soho. He received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) which he attended from 1972–1974. While there, he supported himself working as a dresser for Nigel Hawthorne and Sir Ralph Richardson,[3] and left after winning several prizes such as the Emile Littler Prize, the Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Medal. Since then, he has becomed one of Britain's most distinguished and versatile stage and screen actors.[4]
Rickman has worked extensively with various British repertory and experimental theatre groups on productions including The Seagull and Snoo Wilson's The Grass Widow at the Royal Court, and has appeared three times at the Edinburgh International Festival. While working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) he starred in, among other things, As You Like It. He made a particular impression as the male lead in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. In 1986 he earned critical and popular acclaim as the elegant and heartless seducer.[citation needed] When the show went across the Atlantic in 1986, Rickman went with it to Broadway and there earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance.
"You can act truthfully or you can lie. You can reveal things about yourself or you can hide. Therefore, the audience recognises something about themselves or they don't—You hope they don't leave the theatre thinking 'that was nice...now where's the cab?'"[5]
While with the RSC he shared a house with fellow RSC member Ruby Wax. Rickman put her into writing comedy and proceeded to direct several of her successful shows.
"If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work".[2]
To television audiences he also became known as Mr. Slope in the BBC's 1980s adaptation of Barchester Towers. He played future Irish Taoiseach and president Éamon de Valera in the film Michael Collins alongside Liam Neeson. While playing romantic leads in British movies (Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility; Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply), he was generally typecast in Hollywood films as an over-the-top villain (German terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). His role in Die Hard earned him a spot on the American Film Institute's list of the "100 Best Heroes/Villains" as the 46th best villain in film history.
Rickman demonstrated considerable talent as a comedic actor in films such as Galaxy Quest, Dogma, and Love Actually. He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his performance as Rasputin in 1996, and was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as Dr. Alfred Blalock in 2004's Something the Lord Made. He played a crucial role in the Harry Potter films as the Potions professor Severus Snape. Rickman was cast in 2005 as the voice of Marvin in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film. Coincidentally, Rickman and David Learner, who occupied Marvin's costume for the TV adaptation and stage shows, studied together at RADA. He was very busy in 2006 with Snow Cake (with Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss) which had its debut at the Berlinale, and also Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (with Dustin Hoffman), directed by Tom Tykwer.
Alan Rickman has performed on stage in Noel Coward's romantic comedy Private Lives, which transferred to Broadway after its successful run in London at the Albery Theatre and ended in September 2002. Rickman had reunited with his Les Liaisons Dangereuses co-star, Lindsay Duncan, and director, Howard Davies for this Tony Award winning production.
His previous stage performance was as Mark Antony, opposite Helen Mirren as Cleopatra, in the Royal National Theatre's production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre in London, which ran from October 20th to December 3rd, 1998. Before that, he performed in Yukio Ninagawa's Tango at the End of Winter in London's West End and the Riverside Studio production of Hamlet in 1991, directed by Robert Sturua. He directed The Winter Guest at London's Almeida Theatre in 1995. He also directed the film version in 1996 starring Emma Thompson and her real life mother Phyllida Law.
Rickman has also been featured in several musical works—most notably in a song composed by the English songwriter Adam Leonard. Moreover, the actor played a "Master of Ceremonies" part in announcing the various instruments in Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II on the track The Bell. Rickman was one of the many artists who recited Shakespearian sonnets on the 2002-released When Love Speaks CD, and is also featured prominently in a Texas music-video entitled In Demand, which premiered on Europe MTV in August 2000. In the video, Sharleen Spiteri (the lead singer of Texas) danced the tango with Rickman: the clip was nominated for Best British Video at the Brit Awards. Spiteri said about the choice of Rickman for the clip ; "I thought it had to be someone who would be believable, who would rip your coat off and pull you into the tango, so I thought Alan Rickman!"[citation needed]
Rickman was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (No 34) in 1995 and ranked No 59 in Empire's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in October 1997. Rickman became Vice-Chairman of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2003. He was voted No 19 in Empire magazine's Greatest Living Movie Stars over the age of 50 and was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actor (Play): in 1987 for Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and in 2002 for a revival of Noel Coward's Private Lives.
Rickman played Severus Snape, the sinister wizard-schoolmaster of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, in the five films of that series to date. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named him one of their favorite people in pop culture, saying that in the Harry Potter films, "he may not be on screen long - but he owns every minute," and that he is capable of "turning a simple retort into a mini-symphony of contempt."[6]
Rickman directed the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie in April 2005 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, and won the Theatre Goers' Choice Awards for best director. The production is based on the writings of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American woman who was killed on March 16, 2003 by an Israeli armored bulldozer. The show played at the West End's Playhouse Theatre in London from March to May 2006. The play also ran at both the Galway Arts Festival and the Edinburgh Fesitval in 2006.
In 1995 Rickman turned down the role of Alec Trevelyan in the 1995 James Bond film Goldeneye, more than likely as a rule of staying away from villain roles. Rickman continues to show dismay over journalists[Who?] repeatedly labeling him as a villain actor, citing the fact that he has not portrayed a stock villain character since the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991, and pointing out that he has continued to portray characters of complex and varying emotions, and does not think it is fair to assign characters a label of good or evil, hero or villain.[citation needed] The media has also dogged him in recent years for his thoughts on his role in the Harry Potter series, an irritation to him as he feels the press are too interested in Snape to pay attention to his other work.[citation needed] However, he is very much admired by his Harry Potter fans for the protection he has shown for his character in the series, as he continues to cite a fear of ruining the mystery of the character for the fans by talking about him. It is known that prior to the book release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Rickman had spoken on occasion about Snape quite easily, but with the controversy of the character following the events of the sixth book, Rickman refused to speak on the character anymore.[7][not in citation given]
- ^ Solway, Diane. "Profile: Alan Rickman", European Travel and Life, August, 1991. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
- ^ a b c Mackenzie, Suzie. "ANGEL WITH HORNS", The Guardian, 1998-01-03. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
- ^ Interview Alan Rickman Retrieved on December 20, 2007.
- ^ Fine Line Features / An Awfully Big Adventure / Cast Biographies Retrieved on December 20-2007.
- ^ Tait, Ollie; MacDonald-Smith, Fiona. "Mellow Drama", Big Issue, May 1992. Retrieved on December 23-2007.
- ^ Entertainment Weekly's 100 Favorite People in Pop Culture
- ^ Profile: Alan Rickman by Diane Solway
- Alan Rickman at the Internet Movie Database
- Alan Rickman at the Internet Broadway Database
- Alan Rickman's Charity Work
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Salvatore Cascio for Nuovo cinema Paradiso |
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1992 for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves |
Succeeded by Gene Hackman for Unforgiven |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rickman, Alan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rickman, Alan Sidney Patrick |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | English film, television and stage actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 21, 1946 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hammersmith, London, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
Categories: Articles needing additional references from December 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since December 2007 | Articles with weasel words | 1946 births | BAFTA winners (people) | Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actor Golden Globe | Emmy Award winners | English film actors | English stage actors | English television actors | English voice actors | Living people | Old Latymerians | People from Hammersmith | Royal National Theatre Company members | Royal Shakespeare Company members