LONDON, England, Jan. 14, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Alan Rickman, who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, has passed away from a battle with cancer. The actor was 69 years old.
According to the New York Times, a spokesman for the London-based Independent Talent Group confirmed his death. A family statement published by the BBC said the cause was cancer. At the end, “He was surrounded by family and friends,” the statement said.
Rickman was born in London and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
He worked on the stage both in England and New York. But he became a worldwide name for his portrayal of Hans Gruber in the Bruce Willis’ action flick “Die Hard.”
He regenerated his career over a decade later as Severus Snape, the aristocratic magic instructor at the Hogwarts school in the “Harry Potter” franchise.
In an interview with The New York Times in 2012, Rickman said the mysterious professor Snape was an unusually complex character, and he signed on to the Harry Potter films without a clear idea of how the character would evolve over the course of the movies.
“With the last film it was very cathartic because you were finally able to see who he was,” Rickman said. “It was strange, in a way, to play stuff that was so emotional. A lot of the time you’re working in two dimensions, not three.”
