English actor dies today12/16/2023 ![]() Rickman publicly spoke of his unhappiness about the “Hollywood ending” of 1996 film Michael Collins, a historical biopic of the Irish civil war, in which he portrayed Éamon de Valera, and expressed his belief that art ought to help educate as well as entertain. Rickman remained politically active throughout his life: he was born, he said, “a card-carrying member of the Labour party”, and was highly involved with charities including Saving Faces and the International Performers’ Aid Trust, which seeks to help artists in developing and poverty-stricken countries. He was nominated for a Tony for the part Lindsay Duncan memorably said of her co-star’s sonorous performance that audiences would leave the theatre wanting to have sex “and preferably with Alan Rickman”. ![]() His sensational breakthrough came in 1986 as Valmont, the mordant seducer in Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses. After graduating from Rada, the actor supported himself as a dresser for the likes of Nigel Hawthorne and Ralph Richardson before finding work with the Royal Shakespeare Company (as well as on TV as the slithery Reverend Slope in The Barchester Chronicles). Yet it was Rickman’s work on stage that established him as such a compelling talent, and to which he returned throughout his career. ![]() Last year, Rickman reunited with Kate Winslet, another Sense and Sensibility co-star, for his second film as director, A Little Chaos – a period romance set in the gardens of Versailles. He was, above all things, a rare and unique human being and we shall not see his like again. I consider myself hugely privileged to have worked with him so many times and to have been directed by him. I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do with his face next. He was the finest of actors and directors. The intransigence which made him the great artist he was – his ineffable and cynical wit, the clarity with which he saw most things, including me, and the fact that he never spared me the view. His capacity to fell you with a look or lift you with a word. What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. ![]() Thompson – who said she had “just kissed him goodbye” – wrote: In 1995, he directed Thompson and her mother, Phyllida Law, in his directorial debut, the acclaimed Scottish drama The Winter Guest. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |