For the second time this week, checking Twitter resulted in a gut-punch of sadness with the news that Alan Rickman passed away today at age 69.
I think the majority of reactions echoed mine: NO.
Also, “Fuck Cancer.”
In the rapid stream of sadness and detail today, I learned that Rickman started his film acting career at age 42 – go on with your bad self, sir. Lesson acquired: it’s never too late to do the thing.
In 27 years, he played some of the most memorable roles, from Colonel Brandon to Hans Gruber to Severus Snape to the Sherriff of Nottingham in the otherwise ridiculous Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
We discuss the redemption of the villain and the reformation of the bad guy fairly frequently in romance, as some of our favorite, enduring characters have a moral ambiguity or a straight up villainous past. Rickman was, of all things, an excellent villain.
He could mix sneering confidence, careful neutrality, and scorn, and I still wanted him to keep talking.
One eyebrow was all he needed sometimes.
Or, you know, both worked, too.
Rickman was a master of the subtle “WTF?”
Or the outright, full-body “WTF?”
Talent that compelling is a gift to watch, especially when portraying fictional characters adapted for screen. He was always adding – never detracting – from the depiction, and his roles ranged all over the place in terms of literature. Shakespeare, Austen, JK Rowling, ancient fables, and on and on.
He spent a large portion of Prince of Thieves raping, threatening to rape, killing or beating people, and could still be desperately ridiculous enough to make me laugh.
The man could work ten emotions with awkward hair, one sneer…
and the part where he broke people’s hearts.
Sometimes his acting was based solely on stiffness and nostril flares.
And even when not acting, it was hard to look away.
I suspect there are a plethora of words to describe his talent, and I’m feeling unworthy of the task of coming up with even three of them. Just as David Bowie’s music and performances were the backdrop to moments of importance in people’s lives, Alan Rickman’s art and gift for portraying different shades of humanity developed my own imagination as I read, or re-read a character.
It’s a rare and wonderful thing, I think, to witness a person with such empathetic ability in so many roles, with so much power that he wasn’t merely an actor. He was a presence. And his absence feels severe.
I know many of you feel the same way, and it’s a comfort amidst a weird sadness. I didn’t know Alan Rickman, but I knew all those characters. Which is your favorite? Which do you want to rewatch or re-read now?
I’m going to re-watch Die Hard (with the greatest film villain of all time) and then I’m going to re-read the part in Harry Potter where Harry finally understands Professor Snape.
I was afraid that I would be the only one rewatching Galaxy Quest first, but I simply loved him in that. And I just rewatched all the HP movies last week.
Die Hard is one of those movies that I HAVE TO WATCH when I stumble upon it during channel surfing. It’s all about Hans. RIP, Mr. Rickman. Thanks for a lovely post.
So many great films! I loved Truly, Madly, Deeply, though, with great passion. And I love the cello. And his voice! But he’s hysterical in Galaxy Quest–I just got my boyfriend and his daughter to watch that recently. But for me, Truly, Madly, Deeply is the one where he stole my heart–the scene where he and Juliet Stephenson sing “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine” is unforgettable. He is one of the crushes that has stuck with me through the years. RIP Alan Rickman. You will be sorely missed.
I’ve been in a bubble today so didn’t know about this ’til I did my daily SBTB check just now. This whole week has been an emotional gut punch.
Truly Madly Deeply made me fall in love with him and his voice, but he made everything he appeared in better.
I’m so glad to see so many who also loved Truly, Madly, Deeply. I’m going to get the Costco-sized box of Kleenex and watch it again.
Good night, sweet prince.
Sometimes the first is the best. I fell in love with him when he portrayed the oleaginous, supercilious clergyman the Rev. Obadiah Slope in the 1982 BBC adaptation of the first two Barchester novels by Anthony Trollope. I’ve been reading Trollope and loving Rickman ever since. He was swoonworthy as a blonde. Fuck cancer.
I first encountered Alan Rickman at around 15 in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and don’t think I saw him again until Sense and Sensibility (talk about character whiplash). Galaxy Quest, Harry Potter, Love Actually…
*sigh* Cancer sucks. I say this as I wear the scarf gifted to me by my cousin who died 10 weeks ago from breast cancer. (She was my age; not even 40.)
I think the movie of his that I’d watch would be Galaxy Quest. Geeky hilarity, and Alexander Dane’s lost career FTW! “BY…GRABTHOR’S…HAMMER…”
While anything with Alan Rickman is worth watching, my personal favorite, is HBO’s “Rasputin”. Yes, Alan Rickman plays lead.
I had no idea that “Truly Madly Deeply” even existed until this morning. How many tissues am I going to need to watch it?
If you want to see a really, really young Alan Rickman (in a bowl haircut, no less) dig up the 1978 BBC production of Romeo and Juliet, in which he plays Tybalt. He had the glorious voice, even then.
I hope that he and Bowie are sitting down together somewhere fabulous, maybe laughing over drinks.
@harthad Yes!!! IDK how to make the picture post in comments, but this made me smile today.
http://i.imgur.com/pTWmfb2.jpg
When I read about this first thing this morning, I was just so overwhelmed. Crying in the shower is a great way to start your day! I loved how Alan Rickman could convincingly be a good guy or a bad guy which not all actors can do. Plus even his bad guys were wonderfully complex (and/or over the top!). And he always seemed like such a great guy in real life too which seems to be a lot of what people who actually knew him are saying today.
Gonna have to start with Sense & Sensibility. He made me love Colonel Brandon who is a bit of a “meh” in the book.
@Sel: my condolences on your loss. That’s awful – I’m so sorry.
What a gifted actor. I think the roles that stand out the most for me are his book characters– I’m thinking particularly of Snape and Colonel Brandon. He had a way of just–embodying– an already-established character that was simultaneously fresh and faithful, as if his portrayal was who the character was always meant to be. I’m terribly sad that we’ve lost him.
Crappity crap crap. It’s like “What legendary performer who is way too young and likely a really really nice person in real life should die this week?” Bowie? Done. Rickman? Done.
Rickman seriously seemed immortal.
I’m so tired of great people dying before their time. And whenever it happens it takes me back 5 years ago to when my own beloved legendary father (Seriously, he one of the few “great men” I’ve ever known. Nearly everyone who ever met him felt the same) died unexpectedly at the age of 66.
The movies I loved him in? Um–everything I’ve seen him in. Off the top of my head:
Sense and Sensibility (LOVE Colonel Brandon–I married a Colonel Brandon)
Quigley Down Under (Fabulous Villiany)
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (“Cancel Christmas!”–Everyone in the theater busted up at that line.)
I’m in a weirdly dark mood. Sitting here wondering who will be the next beloved great to leave without a goodbye.
He’ll be missed.
I first saw Rickman in The Barchester Chronicles when I lived in England in the early 80s. But like many posters here, I couldn’t possibly name just one favorite roll of his. He was a great movie villain (Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), a wonderful romantic lead (Truly, Madly, Deeply, Sense & Sensibility). Funny (Galaxy Quest, Blow Dry) and often a combination (Harry Potter, Love Actually). He gave such wonderful performances even in subpar movies (he’s the only reason I watched CBGB or Dogma all the way through for example). Michael Collins, Something the Lord Made, etc all great performances.
There are a couple of his newer films I haven’t yet watched, so looking forward to seeing Eye in the Sky and A Little Chaos. Just not right away.
I think my favorite movie was Space Quest, although Rickman stole the show in the Robin Hood movie (“Cancel Christmas!”) and was so lovable in Sense and Sensibility. Alan Rickman will be missed but we can visit him often on film.
Cancer is being a thug this week. I received a call today to be told one of our friends is losing her fight with cancer. Cancer sucks, indeed.
@Maite: You’ll need a whole box. Maybe two–one with plain tissues for your eyes, and one with lotion tissues for your nose.
I loved him in Sense and sensibility. I also loved him in Robin Hood! Actually I enjoyed all of his performances! What a sad loss! His work is his gift to us all.
I was just slowly scrolling through Facebook this morning when I came to a post from CNN about his death. When I saw it, I actually said “No” as if I actually knew him. I think its because Harry Potter is intrinsically linked to my childhood that seeing we no longer had the man who brought Snape to life on the big screen was such a shock. It has been 10 hours since I found out and I am still so sad.
I might have to do HP:7 and 8 this weekend. And Love Actually. He may have done something really crappy to his wife in that one, but I still like him in it. I wonder what that says about me.
I’d be watching Galaxy Quest first too – except we just watched it New Years Eve, badly needing some funny after the death of our 8 year old cat from cancer. So this news was a gut punch this morning, and I’ll double down on the ‘fuck cancer’.
After that, I adored him as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and I’ll have to bust that DVD out soon.
[…] A very nice post from Smart Bitches about Alan Rickman. Words from JK Rowling and Rickman’s Harry Potter co-stars. […]
Another little-known gem of his is “Blow Dry”, starring another gone-too-soon actor, Natasha Richardson. Nice little comedy with a lot of outrageous hairstyles.
in the past week, I was touched by the death of a former beloved doctor, a neighbor, and David Bowie, but the death which send me over the edge was Alan Rickman. I’ve never met the man, but my heart has a little hole from his passing.
An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), another small film that gets woefully overlooked.
My feelings, exactly, thank you for such a heartfelt remembrance. He will always be Colonel Brandon for me, of course. I would also like to remember her first movie as a director, a desolate, cold and angsty The Winter Guest, with amazing Emma Thompson & her mother, wonderful Phyllida Law.
RIP Alan Rickman, TRULY MADLY DEEPLY and SENSE AND SENSIBILITY are my favorites!
And yes FUCK CANCER!!
I’ll be doing The Song of Lunch.
And then there’s this: http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/bonus-daily-cartoon-remembering-alan-rickman
I loved Alan Rickman in everything I saw him in, even “Close My Eyes” which is not really a good movie. I haven’t yet seen his “The Winter Guest,” or “Snow Cake,” or the recent releases but I will see all of them dammit, if I could watch “Closet Land” I can watch anything.
For the most timely, I think, “Blow Dry” since the whole movie is a giant Fuck Cancer. But for solace, I think “Galaxy Quest.”
I loved him in every role I saw him play. He was brilliant as the Sheriff of Nottingham, hauntingly sinister in Closet Land, and the perfect beta hero in Sense and Sensibility. I’ll probably re-watch Quigley Down Under where, as Marston, he was the quintessential black hat villain.
A brilliant man gone too soon.
Damn, damn, damn. I adored him. Truly, madly, deeply.
The only man who could make that immense mustache sexy.
I’m generally unmoved by a lot of celebrity deaths but this one made me really sad: a great actor and human being: I don’t think anyone had anything bad to say about him.
In response to his death, various people have been posting links. These are my favorites:
* Especially pertinent to this site, an absolutely hilarious UK Xmas special from 2000 featuring him (and many other well-known faces) in a parody of Jane Austen/Regency dramas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoHS4lgaxTI
* A compilation by The Telegraph of various people doing impersonations of him http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/movie-news/celebrities-doing-affectionate-impressions-of-alan-rickman/
* That wonderful voice reading Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP06F0yynic
Oh, forgot to mention this really wonderful meme https://www.facebook.com/TonyDiterlizzi/photos/a.183260861759597.48818.157959667623050/937374683014874/?type=3&theater
[…] Sarah at Smart Bitches Trashy Books described it as a “weird” sadness, and it […]
[…] Here is a great collection of what made Alan Rickman so memorable. And here is a short bio. […]