Following David Bowie, who also recently died at 69 of cancer, Rickman was best known for playing villain Hans Gruber in “Die Hard” and Severus Snape in the “Harry Potter” franchise has passed on due to cancer at age 69.
Other notable films in which he appeared were “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” “Sense and Sensibility” and “Love Actually.” In 2007, he starred alongside Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
Rickman won a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Rasputin in “Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny.”
Rickman also directed Emma Thompson in the 1997 film “The Winter Guest” and Kate Winsletin 2014’s “A Little Chaos.”
Emma Thompson paid tribute to her close friend Alan Rickman.
“Alan was my friend and so this is hard to write because I have just kissed him goodbye,” wrote Thompson in an emotional statement to The Hollywood Reporter. Thompson and Rickman were longtime friends who have worked together on seven films, including Love Actually, Harry Potter and Sense and Sensibility.