Goodbye Alan Rickman
I was standing in my bedroom this morning when I read that Alan Rickman died. My first thought was that it had been a good move to purchase digital copies of all the Harry Potter films even though we had DVD versions of the same movie because, yes, there are times when you need to access a Harry Potter film from your phone.
There are times when you need to rewatch the magnificent humanity Alan Rickman brought to a difficult character. There are times when you need to remind yourself how lucky you are that the casting agent got this role so right. There are times when you need to sit down and watch three minutes of a film and feel whatever you’re going to feel knowing that someone — even someone you didn’t know at all — is gone.
Thank you, Mr. Rickman, for filling up the role of Severus Snape so completely that you spilled over the top and got under all of our skin. You will be missed.
Image: Marie-Lan Nguyen via Flickr
12 comments
First David Bowie, now Alan Rickman. (Same age, same illness.) 🙁 I adored him long before Snape — Truly Madly Deeply, Robin Hood, Love Actually… he’s been wonderful in everything I’ve ever seen him in. 🙁
So terribly sad! I had a bit of a crush on him in Sense and Sensibility. Loved him in everything, though.
Oh, no! I hadn’t heard yet of Alan Rickman’s passing. So very sad to lose such a talented actor. Thank you for writing such a wonderful tribute to him. He will, indeed, be missed.
What a loss. He was brilliant as Snape … sometimes I think he played one of the fullest characters of all of the films. I feel like I knew him, even though I didn’t know him at all.
This is awful news. I am just so sad. What a tremendous loss.
I don’t normally get upset about celebrity deaths, but my heart fell when I saw the news today.
I fell in love with Alan Rickman when he was the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood (I was in a “bad boy” point in my life, haha!) and I was THRILLED to see as Snape.
I’m so sad to hear of his death.
I’m devastated by this. He was in some of my favourite movies: Love Actually, Sense and Sensibility, but my favourite was, of course, Harry Potter. And he was so GOOD at being Snape and part of that world. Such fun with it. He made my life better, which is probably the best epitaph for any artist in any field. Good journey Mr. Rickman. And thank you.
A favourite thing that happened:
random kid to Alan Rickman: Why are you so mean to Harry Potter?
Alan Rickman: Ten points from Gryffindor.
This is the first place that I had seen the news. I’m sorry to hear about Alan Rickman’s death. He’s long been a favorite actor of mine – I first saw him in Sense and Sensibility and of course, thought he was wonderful in Harry Potter. That voice. Oh, that voice…
I have loved him forever – he was so great as Hans Gruber and everything I saw him in after that was made better by his presence.
I’ve loved him in Love Actually also, and then as Snape. Cancer has hit my life in too many ways, both directly and indirectly, and I know what I’d be doing with the vast majority of the money if I had had one of those winning Powerball tickets. :-p
He was the quintessential actor. Absorbed in every character, making said character leap from the screen and into our minds and hearts.
My heart. 🙁