Last week humanity lost a great actor. Alan Rickman died of pancreatic cancer on the 14th of January 2016. Like David Bowie (who passed away on the 10th of January 2016), he was also 69 years old.
Here are some quick facts about Alan Rickman
1. He was born as Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman in Acton, London on the 21st of February 1946.
2. Rickman was in a relationship with his teenage sweetheart Rima Horton since 1965. After being in a relationship for forty-seven years they eventually got married in 2012.
3. Alan Rickman did not start acting until he was almost 30.
4. His first major film role through which he was introduced to the American public, was as a bad guy named Hans Gruber, whose butt John McClane (Bruce Willis) kicked in Die Hard. He got the role two days after arriving in Hollywood. This performance earned him a spot on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Best Heroes / Villains as the forty-sixth best villain in film history.
5. Before becoming an actor he studied graphic design at Chelsea College of Art and Design, as well as at the Royal College of Art. He even created a successful graphic design company named Graphiti with some of his friends, but after three years he decided to pursue acting professionally.
6. Rickman took cello lessons for his part in the 1990 film Truly Madly Deeply, and while the right (bowing) hand was his, the left hand was that of a real cellist standing behind him with his arm through Rickman’s armpit.
7. In 1995, he was awarded a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Rasputin in the TV film Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny. He had also previously won a BAFTA Award for his role in Robin Hood.
8. For Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves he turned down the role of the sheriff twice before he was told he could more or less have carte blanche with his interpretation of the character.
9. Alan Rickman pranked Daniel Radcliffe on the set of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. According to Radcliffe, Rickman planted one of those fart machines in his sleeping bag, and he waited until the camera would come in for a dramatic scene they were supposed to shoot, and then Alan unleashed this tremendous fart in the great hall, making everybody at the shoot cry from laughter.
10. For the shot where Hans Gruber falls from the top of the building in Die Hard, Rickman was actually dropped by a stuntman from a twenty-foot-high model onto an air bag. To get a genuine surprised look, the stuntman dropped him on the count of two instead of three.
11. He was the only one from the whole Harry Potter cast who knew his character’s fate before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, because Rowling couldn’t keep any secrets from him.
12. A 2008 research study conducted by linguist Andrew Linn, of Sheffield University, and sound engineer Shannon Harris, found the perfect male voice to be a combination of Rickman’s and fellow actor Jeremy Irons’s, based on a sample of fifty famous voices.
13. Although he became widely known thanks to the films he starred in, he would frequently turn down roles in popular films only so he could act in the theater, which he called his “first love.”
RIP Alan Hickman. You will be missed. Here are 9 memorable quotes from him.
This is quite touching…
Truth
Another truth…
Yet another truth…
Most actors will agree with this…
It would be, indeed…
Hmmmm
Laughs are important, yes…
Most of us can relate to this..
Well, there you have it, some facts and 9 memorable Alan Rickman Quotes. If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, feel free to share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Sharing is caring after all.
Watch this space for regular updates in the Facts and Movies categories on Running Wolf’s Rant.
Looking for a gift for that special person in your life? Check out Netflorist.co.za, South Africa's top online florist and gift service. They offer flowers, gifts, and hampers for all occasions AND reliable nationwide delivery.
