Alan Rickman profile: Star of British TV and film whose career spanned five decades

Richman rose to fame in Die Hard and later found a new audience with the Harry Potter films - but it is that voice most will remember

Alan Rickman pictured at the Goodwood Festival, July 2015 (Getty Images)

Alan Rickman, a star of British TV, film and theatre with a career spanning five decades, has died of cancer aged 69.

Most famous for his roles in Die Hard and later the Harry Potter films, the London-born, classically-trained actor began his career in Shakespearean theatre in the late seventies.

Rickman broke into TV with a role in the BBC’s The Barchester Chronicles in 1982, the first of many appearances alongside fellow British stalwart Emma Thompson.

But it was in 1988 that he shot to international stardom as Hans Gruber, the villain opposite Bruce Willis in the original Die Hard.

His unmistakable voice and sardonic demeanour saw Rickman play faintly ironic baddies across his early Hollywood roles, including the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, for which he won a Bafta.

Rickman was arguably at his most prolific in 1995/6, with Sense and Sensibility and Michael Collins earning him another two Bafta nominations, a terrifying turn as Rasputin in the HBO classic of the same name and a directorial debut with The Winter Guest, again starring Thompson.

For Hollywood audiences, Rickman added heart to his menacing demeanour in the 1999 cult Kevin Smith film Dogma, alongside a young duo of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

And he branched out fully into comedy in the heavily self-parodying Galaxy Quest in 2000, receiving widespread plaudits for his role as a frustrated seasoned actor with a background in Shakespeare.

The Harry Potter films, for which Rickman will be best-known among younger fans, came knocking in 2001. He starred throughout as Severus Snape, a favourite character among critics and readers and was reportedly author JK Rowling’s personal choice for the role.

Rickman’s most recent film role is yet to be released, with thriller Eye in the Sky scheduled to hit cinemas in March, while opened in Seminar, a new Broadway play by Theresa Rebeck, as recently as November 2011.

Throughout it all, that voice was what drew audiences to Rickman most keenly. Newspaper editors at the Evening Standard have described how they used to ring him up, just to hear his answer phone message, while he voiced a host of cult cartoon characters and even provided vocals for Glasgow band Texas.

Rickman met his wife Rima Horton when they were still teenagers and, though they lived together from 1977 until his death, they married at a private ceremony in New York City in 2012. A short statement released at midday on Thursday said he died from cancer “surrounded by family and friends”.