Rickman, Alan 1946–

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RICKMAN, Alan 1946

PERSONAL


Full name, Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman; born February 21, 1946, in London, England; father, a factory worker; companion of Rima Horton (a politician and lecturer in economics). Education: Studied at Chelsea College of Art, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and Royal College of Art.


Addresses: Agent Patrick Whitesell, Endeavor, 9701 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Manager Judy Hofflund, Hofflund/Polone, 9465 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 820, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.


Career: Actor, director, producer, and writer. Royal Shakespeare Company, member of company, beginning 1985. Also owned a graphic design business.


Awards, Honors: Bancroft Gold Medal, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1974; Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best actor in a play, 1987, for Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Golden Space Needle Award, best actor, Seattle International Film Festival, 1991, for Close My Eyes and Truly, Madly, Deeply; Film Award nomination, best actor, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1992, both for Truly, Madly, Deeply; Film Award, best supporting actor, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and MTV Movie Award nomination, best villain, both 1992, for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; Evening Standard British Film Award, best actor, 1992, for Close My Eyes, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and Truly, Madly, Deeply; London Critics Circle Film Award, British actor of the year, 1992, for Close My Eyes, Quigley Down Under, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and Truly, Madly, Deeply; Time Out Award, 1992, for Tango at the End of Winter; Montreal World Film Festival Award, best actor, 1994, for Mesmer; Film Award nominations, best supporting actor, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1996, for Sense and Sensibility, and 1997, for Michael Collins; Emmy Award and Actor Award, 1996, and Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Satellite Award, International Press Academy, 1997, all best actor in a miniseries or movie made for television, all for Rasputin; Golden Hugo Award, best film, Chicago International Film Festival, 1997, CinemAvvenire Award, International Catholic Organization for Cinema and Audiovisual Award, and nomination for Golden Lion, all Venice Film Festival, 1997, Audience Award, Brussels International Film Festival, 1998, and nomination for Czech Lion, best foreignlanguage film, 1999, all for The Winter Guest; Golden Satellite Award nomination, best supporting actor in a comedy or musical role, 2000, for Dogma; Saturn Award nomination, best supporting actor, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, 2000, for Galaxy Quest; Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best actor, Laurence Olivier Award nomination, best actor, Society of West End Theatre, and Variety Club Show Business Award, best stage actor, all 2002, for Private Lives.

CREDITS

Stage Appearances:

Wittipol, The Devil Is an Ass, Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company, Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, then Royal National Theatre, Lyttelton Theatre, London, 1977.

Friar Peter, Measure for Measure, Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company, Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, then Royal National Theatre, 1977.

Farquarson, Captain Swing, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, StratfordonAvon, England, 1978.

Thidias and Alexa, Antony and Cleopatra, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, StratfordonAvon, England, 1978.

Antonio, The Tempest, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1978.

Boyet, Love's Labour's Lost, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1978, then Aldwych Theatre, London, 1979.

Ferdinand, The Tempest, Royal Shakespeare Company, 1978.

Antonio, Nottingham Playhouse, Nottingham, England, 1979.

Fears and Miseries of the Third Reich, Glasgow Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland, 19791980.

The Summer Party, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England, 1980.

The Devil Himself, Lyric Studio Theatre, London, 1980.

Commitments, Bush Theatre, London, 1980.

The Last Elephant, Bush Theatre, 1981.

The Seagull, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1981.

Philadelphia Story, Oxford Playhouse, Oxford, England, 1981.

Brothers Karamazov, Edinburgh Festival, 1981.

The Grass Widow, Royal Court Theatre, 1983.

Bad Language, Hampstead Theatre Club, London, 1983.

Lucky Chance, Royal Court Theatre, 1984.

Achilles, Troilus and Cressida, Royal Shakespeare Company, 1985.

Jacques, As You Like It, Royal Shakespeare Company, StratfordonAvon, then Barbican Theatre, London, both 1985.

Hendrik Hofgen, Mephisto, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, 1986.

Le Vicomte de Valmont, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Royal Shakespeare Company, London, 19851986, then Music Box Theatre, New York City, 1987.

Sei, Tango at the End of Winter, Edinburgh Festival, then Piccadilly Theatre, London, 1991.

Hamlet, Riverside Studios, London, 1992.

Antony, Antony and Cleopatra, Royal National Theatre, 1998.

Elyot, Private Lives, Albery Theatre, London, 20012002, then Richard Rodgers Theatre, New York City, 2002.

Appeared as Jacques, As You Like It, Crucible Theatre; also appeared in a production of Ubu Roi and in productions at Library Theatre, Manchester, England.

Major Tours:

Brothers Karamazov, East European cities, 1981.

Appeared as Wittipol, The Devil Is an Ass, and as Friar Peter, Measure for Measure, both European cities; also toured British cities in Hamlet.

Stage Director:

Desperately Yours, Colonnades Theatre, New York City, 1980.

(Assistant director) Other Worlds, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1983.

Live Wax, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1986.

Wax Acts, London, 1992, then on tour..

The Winter Guest, Yorkshire Playhouse, 1995, then on tour.

Film Appearances:

Hans Gruber, Die Hard, Twentieth CenturyFox, 1988.

Ed, The January Man, MetroGoldwynMayer/United Artists/United International, 1989.

Elliott Marston, Quigley Down Under (also known as Quigley ), MetroGoldwynMayer/United Artists, 1990.

Sinclair Bryant, Close My Eyes, Castle Hill, 1991.

The interrogator, Closet Land, Universal, 1991.

Sheriff of Nottingham, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Warner Bros., 1991.

Jamie, Truly, Madly, Deeply (also known as Cello ), Samuel Goldwyn, 1991.

Lukas Hart III, Bob Roberts, Paramount/Miramax, 1992.

Franz Anton Mesmer (title role), Mesmer, Cineplex Odeon, 1994.

P. L. O'Hare (some sources cite O'Hara), An Awfully Big Adventure, Fine Line, 1995.

Colonel Brandon, Sense and Sensibility, Columbia, 1995.

Lumiere et compagnie (also known as Lumiere and Company and Lumiere y compania ), 1995.

Hans Gruber (in archive footage), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (also known as Die Hard 3 ), 1995.

Eamon De Valera, Michael Collins, Warner Bros., 1996.

(Uncredited) Man in street, The Winter Guest, Fine Line, 1997.

Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus, Galaxy Quest, DreamWorks, 1999.

Metatron, Dogma, Lions Gate Films, 1999.

David Weinberg, Dark Harbor, New City Releasing, 1999.

Voice of Joe, Hjaelp, jeg er en fisk (animated; also known as Help I'm a Fish and Hilfe! Ich bin ein Fisch ), Buena Vista International, 2000.

Man, Play (short film), FilmFour, 2000.

Phil Allen, Blow Dry (also known as Ueber kurz oder lang ), Miramax, 2001.

Professor Severus Snape, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (also known as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ), Warner Bros., 2001.

Title role, The Search for John Gissing, Sunlight Productions, 2001.

Professor Severus Snape, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (also known as Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens ), Warner Bros., 2002.

Standing Room Only (short film), Buena Vista, 2002.

Harry, Love Actually, Universal, 2003.

Professor Severus Snape, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Warner Bros., 2004.

Film Work:

Director, The Winter Guest, Fine Line, 1997.

Executive producer, Willows (also known as Inspiration ), Hyperhoons, 2001.

Television Appearances; Miniseries:

Vidal, Therese Raquin, BBC (England), then on Masterpiece Theatre, PBS, 1981.

Brownlow, Smiley's People, BBC, then syndicated, 1982.

Reverend Obadiah Slope, The Barchester Chronicles, BBC, then on Masterpiece Theatre, PBS, 1984.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Tybalt, "Romeo and Juliet," BBC Television Shakespeare, BBC (England), then on The Shakespeare Plays (also known as The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet ), PBS, 1979.

Israel Yates, "From Sleep and Shadow," Spirit of Man, BBC, 1989.

Jacques Roux, "The Preacher," Revolutionary Witness, BBC, 1989.

Himself, Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast, 1992.

Presenter, The 55th Annual Golden Globe Awards, NBC, 1998.

Captain George Fallon, Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings, BBC, 2000.

Hollywood Salutes Bruce Willis: An American Cinematheque Tribute, TNT, 2000.

Narrator, Discovery Channel EcoChallenge, The Discovery Channel, 2000.

Himself (in archive footage), The "Billy Elliot " Boy (also known as Omnibus: The Billy Elliot Boy ), BBC, 2001.

Man from Yorkshire, We Know Where You Live (also known as Amnesty International's We Know Where You Live Live! ), Channel 4 (England), 2001.

(In archive footage) AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes and Villains, CBS, 2003.

Other specials include Bonnie Prince Charley.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Grigori Rasputin (title role), Rasputin (also known as Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny ), HBO, 1996.

Detective David Friedman, The Judas Kiss, Cinemax, 1998.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Dmitri, "FourPlay," Girls on Top, 1985.

Voice of RADA, "Cancel Toast," Girls on Top, 1985.

Dwight Billings, "Murder, Obliquely," Sydney Pollack's "Fallen Angels " (also known as Fallen Angels ), Showtime, 1993.

Voice of King Philip, "Joust Like a Woman," King of the Hill (animated), Fox, 2002.

Guest, Jimmy Kimmel Live, ABC, 2003.

Guest, The Wayne Brady Show, syndicated, 2003.

Television Appearances; Other:

Busted, 1982.

Pity in History, 1984.

Benefactors, 1989.

Radio Appearances:

Performed in radio broadcasts of Blood Wedding, The Dutch Courtesan, A Good Man in Africa, Gridlock, The Magic of My Youth, Manchester Enthusiasts, Polly, Rope, The Seagull, That Man Bracken, and Trick to Catch the Old One.

RECORDINGS

Videos:

Interviewee, Judge Not: In Defense of Dogma, Lions Gate Films Home Entertainment, 2001.

Albums:

Master of ceremonies, Tubular Bells II, by Mike Old-field, 1992.

WRITINGS

Screenplays:

The Winter Guest, Fine Line, 1997.

Other:

Contributor to books, including Players of Shakespeare 2, Cambridge University Press, 1988.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Paton, Maureen, Alan Rickman: The Unauthorized Biography, 1996.

Periodicals:

Empire, October, 1997, p. 198.

Premiere, January, 1998, p. 42.

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