About Lord Rickman of the Alans...

Last week another great actor left, rather suddenly I would say, as most of us were not aware that he was ill. Alan Rickman was one of my favorite actors. His roles have marked my childhood, not only because he was in the majority of the films that I used to watch as a child and teenager, but also because my best friend was an uber fan - utterly in love with him. And how can one not fall in love with Alan Rickman? His amazing voice and acting skills, have mesmerized us in more than 60 roles, from the second best villain ever (after Darth Vader) Hans Gruber in Die Hard, to legendary Club owner Hilly Krystal in CBGB, up to our beloved Professor Snape… With his amazing performances, Rickman was a constant inspiration to young actors.

If I had to somehow narrow down my favorite performances, it would have to be: 

• Die Hard (1988) – Hans Gruber: Awesome movie, awesome villain! Rickman captures all the European (and American) clichés and delivers and villain… to die for!  
  

• Sense and sensibility (1995) – Colonel Brandon: “Come on Marianne! Enough with this Willoughby person! Colonel Brandon is melting for you!!” - My 12 year old me was shouting at Kate Winslet...

• Rasputin (1996) – Grigori Rasputin: By far one of his top roles, that gave him a Golden Globe for Best Actor
  

• Galaxy Guest (1999) – Alexander Dane: In a rather goofy film, about the cast of a space soap opera TV series that are involved in a real alien adventure, Rickman shows that he is not afraid to take on funnier roles 

• Alice in Wonderland (2010) – Blue Caterpillar (voice): In a film full of SGI and fellow voice actors like Stephen Fry and Michael Sheen in SGI roles, Rickman brought the Blue Caterpillar in life in a magnificent way! 

• CBGB (2013) – Hilly Kristal: In yet another biopic, this time Rickman is a bit off character, starring as owner of the legendary punk club CBGB and as always, nailing it!

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) – Severus Snape: In his most famous role, played in 8 films for a period of 10 years, Rickman brought more depth than one could imagine in this type of franchise films. His commitment to the role was extraordinary, with him getting all the information about the character from J. K. Rowling, before it was even written in the books. He even knew about the truth behind Snape before the directors prior to the last book publication. Which led to his touching performance in the last film, making us all weep when he said to Harry "You have your mother's eyes" on that last scene...

He will be missed...