History Creator / AlanRickman

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* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Creator/RupertGrint once drew a less than flattering picture of him on set and was terrified when Alan found it. To his surprise, he loved it so much he asked Rupert to sign it and kept it afterwards.

* CoolOldGuy: He was already 42 years old when he made his first film appearance in ''Film/DieHard'' and his coolness only increased in time as he had many of his best roles more than a decade after playing Gruber, most notably Snape.

** His close friend Creator/EmmaThompson told a story about how she was once having a Christmas party and she was standing under the mistletoe when she saw Rickman "bearing down upon me". She lifted her face and puckered her lips for a kiss, but he stopped in front of her, his eyes glittered, and he reached up and pulled a long hair out of her chin. He then leaned down to her and whispered "That was an incipient beard," and walked off.
* DramaticPause: Was ... a ... big ... ''fan''. To the point Creator/JKRowling admitted writing Severus Snape's dialogue in the later ''Potter'' books with Rickman's ... ''cadence'' in mind.

* TheDreaded: In an amusing and unintentional way, he was this for Creator/JasonMewes during the filming of ''Film/{{Dogma}}''. When Creator/KevinSmith told Mewes that he was going to have to be on point throughout the filming because this movie was going to have experienced and well-respected actors and ''Alan Rickman was one of them'', Mewes took the filming so seriously that he not only memorized his lines, but everyone else's lines as well.
-->'''Mewes:''' I don't want to piss off that Rickman dude.

* FriendToAllChildren: He became very close to the younger actors while making ''Harry Potter'', especially Creator/DanielRadcliffe, offering advice and helping them deal with the pressure of their roles and creating a positive work environment for them.
* HappilyMarried: To Rima Horton. Although they only married in the last few years of his life, they had been together since 1965.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: He formed a close rapport with his younger ''Harry Potter'' co-stars, especially Daniel Radcliffe, who has often cited Rickman as a mentor.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Check the page quote on Brian Cox's assessment of him. It was a sentiment shared by ''many'' other actors he worked with.
* OddFriendship: He had an interesting one with Kevin Smith, considering one is a British acting legend and the other is a stoner indie filmmaker from New Jersey, yet Rickman often kept in touch with Kevin and his family after filming ''{{Film/Dogma}}''. Smith was ''devastated'' when Rickman died, openly crying on his podcast when discussing Rickman's passing.
* SecretKeeper: Rickman was the ''only'' person whom J.K. Rowling entrusted with the truth about Severus Snape's motives, years before the fact that [[spoiler: Snape loved Lily Potter]] was revealed in the books. Allegedly, other cast members would ask him why he looked wise to crucial CharacterDevelopment scenes with Snape and he would say, "I know something you don't."

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Rupert Grint once drew a less than flattering picture of him on set and was terrified when Alan found it. To his surprise, he loved it so much he asked Rupert to sign it and kept it afterwards.

** In ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', altogether now:

* CoolOldGuy: He was already in his forties when he made his first film appearance in ''Film/DieHard'' and his coolness only increased in time as he had many of his best roles in his fifties and sixties, most notably Snape.

** Exemplified in his portrayal of Severus Snape in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallowsPart2''.

* FriendToAllChildren: He became very close to the younger actors while making ''Harry Potter'', especially Daniel Radcliffe, offering advice and helping them deal with the pressure of their roles and creating a positive work environment for them.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: He formed a close rapport with his younger Harry Potter co-stars, especially Daniel Radcliffe who has often cited Rickman as a mentor.

* OddFriendship: He had an interesting one with Kevin Smith, considering one is a British acting legend and the other is a stoner indie filmmaker from New Jersey, yet Rickman often kept in touch with Kevin and his family after filming ''{{Film/Dogma}}''.

* TheDreaded: In an amusing and unintentional way, he was this for Jason Mewes during the filming of ''Film/{{Dogma}}''. When Creator/KevinSmith told Mewes that he was going to have to be on point throughout the filming because this movie was going to have experienced and well-respected actors and ''Alan Rickman was one of them'', Mewes took the filming so seriously that he not only memorized his lines, but everyone else's lines as well.

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director, known for playing a variety of roles on stage and screen, often as a complex antagonist. After doing the standard English Man In Hollywood origin full of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, theatre and single-episode television spots, he managed to move over to the USA by serving his revenge cold as the Vicomte de Valmont (a very interesting man with some questionable morals) in ''[[Literature/DangerousLiaisons Les Liaisons Dangereuses]]'' on Broadway. He also starred in ''Film/TrulyMadlyDeeply'', a cultured version of ''Film/Ghost1990''. Then his first big screen role was the lovable MagnificentBastard Hans Gruber in ''Film/DieHard'', who set up a BatmanGambit in order to steal 600 million dollars in negotiable bearer bonds. He had to kill a few people to get the money, which was certainly not very nice, but he did so with memorable BondOneLiner[=s=], and personally [[ThrowItIn ad-libbed the infamous]], "Mr. Takagi did not see it that way ... so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life." To this day, Hans is still regarded as one of the greatest villains in movie history.

* BadassBaritone[=/=]EvilSoundsDeep: One of the reasons he was consistently cast as villains was his deep, silky voice.

* DeadpanSnarker: He was an absolute master at this trope, particularly when playing villains. Few actors could sell withering sarcasm and cynicism as well.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: When he wasn't playing villains, he often played these types of roles, men whose snark, cynicism and general misanthropy hid a kind side.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alanrickman1.png]]

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He played, of all things, a painter named Ed in 1989's ''The January Man''. He played the lead in ''Mesmer'', the 1994 {{biopic}} about pioneering hypnotist Franz Anton Mesmer. He played Colonel Brandon in the 1995 film adaptation of ''Film/SenseAndSensibility''. He was the {{Metatron}}, the angel people are really speaking to when they claim to speak to God,[[note]]Or they're just talking to themselves.[[/note]] in 1999's ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' (being on fire in his first on-screen appearance is certainly interesting), a role which he took after being a fan of Creator/KevinSmith's ''Film/ChasingAmy'' but with one strict condition: don't change anything in the script. In 1999 he starred in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', where he played a Shakespearean actor slumming it in sci-fi. In 2003, he appeared in ''Film/LoveActually'' playing a caring yet utterly deadpan office boss who may or may not have had an affair with his assistant. He was the voice of Marvin in the 2005 film version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. He also played UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan in ''[[Film/TheButler Lee Daniels' The Butler]]''.

* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (2005) -- Marvin the Paranoid Android (voice)

** His close friend Creator/EmmaThompson told a story about how she was one having a Christmas party and she was standing under the mistletoe when she saw Rickman "bearing down upon me". She lifted her face and puckered her lips for a kiss, but he stopped in front of her, his eyes glittered, and he reached up and pulled a long hair out of her chin. He then leaned down to her and whispered "That was an incipient beard," and walked off.

* HappilyMarried: To Rima Morton. Although they only married in the last few years of his life, they had been together since 1965.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Rupert Grint once drew a less than flattering picture of him on set and was terrified when Rickman found it. To his surprise, he loved it so much he asked Rupert to sign it and kept it afterwards.
* BadassBaritone[=/=]EvilSoundsDeep: One of the reasons he was consistently cast as villains was his deep voice.

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director, known for playing a variety of roles on stage and screen, often as a complex antagonist. After doing the standard English Man In Hollywood origin full of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, theatre and single-episode television spots, he managed to move over to the USA by serving his revenge cold as the Vicomte de Valmont (a very interesting man with some questionable morals) in ''[[Literature/DangerousLiaisons Les Liaisons Dangereuses]]'' on Broadway. He also starred in ''Film/TrulyMadlyDeeply'', a cultured version of ''Film/{{Ghost}}''. Then his first big screen role was the lovable MagnificentBastard Hans Gruber in ''Film/DieHard'', who set up a BatmanGambit in order to steal 600 million dollars in negotiable bearer bonds. He had to kill a few people to get the money, which was certainly not very nice, but he did so with memorable BondOneLiner[=s=], and personally [[ThrowItIn ad-libbed the infamous]], "Mr. Takagi did not see it that way ... so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life." To this day, Hans is still regarded as one of the greatest villains in movie history.

* ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'' (2010) -- Absolem the Caterpillar (voice)

* ''Film/AliceThroughTheLookingGlass'' (2016) -- Absolem

* ClassicallyTrainedExtra: His character in ''Film/GalaxyQuest''. Averted in real life as he quite seemed to enjoy being action villains and snarky wizards.

* DeadpanSnarker: He was an absolute master at this trope, particularly when playing villains.

He played, of all things, a painter named Ed in 1989's ''The January Man''. He played the lead in ''Mesmer'', the 1994 {{biopic}} about pioneering hypnotist Franz Anton Mesmer. He played Colonel Brandon in the 1995 film adaptation of ''Film/SenseAndSensibility''. He was the Metatron, the angel people are really speaking to when they claim to speak to God,[[note]]Or they're just talking to themselves.[[/note]] in 1999's ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' (being on fire in his first on-screen appearance is certainly interesting), a role which he took after being a fan of Creator/KevinSmith's ''Film/ChasingAmy'' but with one strict condition: don't change anything in the script. In 1999 he starred in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', where he played a Shakespearean actor slumming it in sci-fi. In 2003, he appeared in ''Film/LoveActually'' playing a caring yet utterly deadpan office boss who may or may not have had an affair with his assistant. He was the voice of Marvin in the 2005 film version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. He also played UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan in ''[[Film/TheButler Lee Daniels' The Butler]]''.

* ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' (1999) -- Metatron

* FauxAffablyEvil: His villainous characters had his incredible charisma and magnetism and were pure evil underneath.

* ColdHam: He could chew scenery while barely raising his voice ir changing his facial expression, particularly as Snape.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Check the page quote on Brian Cox's assessment of him.

-->-- '''Creator/BrianCox''' on the Rickman in his autobiography ''Putting the Rabbit in the Hat''