January 14 marks the 7th anniversary of the death of British actor Alan Rickman, known to most modern viewers for his role as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter film franchise.

However, the professor of potions in the movie saga about magic is only one of the last bright roles of the actor, many people remember him from other, earlier films - the gallant and artistic terrorist Hans Gruber in the first “Die Hard”, the noble Colonel Brandon in “Sense and Sensibility”, the caustic and charismatic Metatron in “Dogma” or the “nutty” Sheriff of Nottingham in the movie “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”. Rickman became famous mainly for the roles of villains or “bad guys with a double bottom”, but still there were positive characters in his filmography.

The future actor was born in the suburbs of London in a simple family (father is a factory worker, mother is a housewife). From childhood, he showed a noticeable talent for drawing, therefore, after graduating from school, he began working as a graphic designer, but left this profession and opted for a career as an artist.

For a long time, Rickman performed only on theater stages and was known only in narrow circles. After the huge success of the theatrical production of “Dangerous Liaisons”, he was invited to Broadway with this performance, where the American audience also learned about it. It was thanks to the success in “Dangerous Liaisons” that Rickman was invited to star in his first Hollywood film, it was “Die Hard”. The role of Gruber was a resounding success, it is not clear who the audience sympathized with more - the hero of Bruce Willis or the terrorist Rickman.

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Over the course of his career, Rickman has appeared in 50 films, including “Sincerely, madly, deeply”, “Rasputin”, “The Winter Guest”, “Dark Harbor”, “Love Actually”, “Perfumer: The Story of a Murderer”, “Sweeney Todd, the barber demon of Fleet Street” and others. He has won BAFTA, “Emmy”, “Golden Globe” and Screen Actors Guild awards.

Photo:uznayvse.ru

Some interesting facts:

• Rickman's voice is recognized as one of the most beautiful among male voices, and his British pronunciation is exemplary;
• the blue caterpillar Absolem speaks in his voice in the cartoon “Alice in Wonderland”;
• Rickman was the only person, besides Rowling herself, who knew the secret of his character in the Potterian from the very beginning;
• Rickman lived with his wife Rimma for 51 years, until his death.

Alan Rickman passed away in 2016 from fulminant pancreatic cancer.