Alan Rickman, English actor and director, passed away on a day like today in 2016. At the age of 69 he was taken by pancreatic cancer. His legacy was a career in theater and cinema full of success and recognition. Amongst the characters who played, there were several literary. In his memory, this is a review some of them.
Alan Rickman
Born in London, a city that also fired him, he was an actor, theater and film director and graphic designer. Son of an Irish father and a Welsh mother and the second of four siblings.
Drama
As a good British actor, Rickman had a great classical training, which obviously includes Shakespeare. He received a scholarship that allowed him to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, which led him to begin his professional acting career.
He was part of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company. So among his roles were those of Jacques de As you like, Achilles, of Troilus and Cressida, or Fernando de The Tempest, among many others. More roles are:
Sherlock Holmes
Accompanied by nothing less than David Suchet like doctor watson, Holmes it was one of his first hits on the boards, in 1976, which also earned him the first critical acclaim.
Theobald
His debut as Theobald, Romeo AND Juliet, in a production for TV from the BBC, of course too. He coincided with another great like Anthony Andrews. It was in 1978.
Viscount of Valmont
En 1987 was Viscount de Valmont, of Dangerous friendships, by Pierre Chordelos de Laclos, in a theatrical montage of the West End hugely successful and earned him a nomination for Tony award theatrical. It was the one that caught the attention of Hollywood production companies who adapted it shortly after into the most memorable film versions in which he was played by John Malkovich or Colin Firth.
Cinema
Colonel Brandon
Few characters so romantic like Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility, one of the great novels of Jane Austen. And a great challenge for Rickman, more associated with less grateful and bad of the function, especially since in 1988 he composed one of the best villains in cinema of all time with that unforgettable Hans gruber, The jungle of crystal. Or in 1991 I was the delusional sheriff of nottingham en Robin Hood, prince of thieves.
But also great actors are the ones who move smoothly between villains and heroes and Rickman was the epitome of the loving, caring, self-sacrificing Victorian gentleman that Brandon represents. He did it in the very successful also version of Ang Lee for the cinema in 1995.
Severus Snape
You have to admit it. The younger generations will always remember Rickman as the contradictory and loved as well as hated teacher of Harry Potter in the cinematic saga of the boy wizard created by J. K. Rowling. maybe his most ambiguous character and in which the nuances that he could give with his voice, gestures and presence to any of his interpretations are best appreciated
Antoine richis
And finally, there is this minor character in The perfume in 2006, in the adaptation of the famous novel by Patrick Süskind, and with stars like Dustin Hoffman.
Your diaries
It was known a while ago in a publication of The Guardian. Alan Rickman had been writing newspapers for more than 25 years. In them he touched all kinds of topics, from his thoughts on his trade to his political opinions or personal experiences, going through, of course, many anecdotes from his filming, of course also those of Harry Potter.
In total they add 27 handwritten volumes that Rickman started in the early 90's with the intention of publishing them. So now they will be edited into a just book and are planned to see the light in fall 2022. If so, would you join the great legacy that left so many and such good performances.
The famed Alan Rickman left this world very early and his iconic acting career is his fantastic legacy.
-Gustavo Woltmann.