The beloved Alan Rickman, the bad guy from Die Hard, the good guy from Sense and Sensibility and the Professor that we all loved to hate from Harry Potter has passed away. He was 69.
His death was confirmed on Thursday by his family, who reported that he passed surrounded by those he loved. He’d been suffering from cancer.
In 1988, in a role he was offered a miraculous two days after arriving in Los Angeles, he played Hans Gruber, the villain in Die Hard. Later he also played the sheriff of Nottingham in 1991’s Robin Hoood: Prience of Thieves, Rasputin in the 1995 HBO film, and more recently, the complicated Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films.
He played more than bad guys, though. He memorably played Coronel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility and Harry in Love Actually. He was also a prolific theater actor and occasional director.
Rest in peace, Alan Rickman. Thanks for all the joy. We’ll miss you!