WASHINGTON – Alan Rickman, the British actor known for a distinctive voice and a variety of roles over a career spanning more than 30 years, has died in London. He was 69.
Rickman’s death was confirmed by his family on Thursday. He had been stricken with cancer.
Some of his best-known movies included the role of the villain Hans Gruber in “Die Hard” and his recurring role as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films.
After his role as Gruber, the Guardian says, Rickman went on to play two other notorious villians: the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991’s “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” and Rasputin in a 1995 HBO film of the same name.
But he also made several films with Emma Thompson, including “Sense and Sensibility” in 1995, which Thompson also wrote; “Love, Actually,” the 2001 film in which he played Thompson’s husband who began an affair; and the 2010 BBC drama “The Song of Lunch,” in which he and Thompson portrayed ex-lovers. Rickman also played the cellist in the romantic “Truly, Madly, Deeply” in 1991.
He had a long career on the English stage, but also made a guest appearance on the animated “King of the Hill” and spoofed his own haughty image in 2000’s “Galaxy Quest.”
His first film as a director also included Thompson — and her mother, Phyllida Law — in 1995’s “The Winter Guest.” He also directed “Sense and Sensibility” co-star Kate Winslet in 2015’s “A Little Chaos.”
The Guardian says he and his wife, Rima Horton, met as teenagers and had been together since 1965, though they only married in 2012.
