25 Movie Talents We Lost In 2016
11. Alan Rickman
Beloved RADA trained British actor Alan Rickman began his acting career on the stage and didn’t actually make his first major film appearance until his early forties when he played Hans Gruber in the classic 1988 action flick Die Hard, a performance that earned him a spot on the American Film Institute’s 100 Best Villains list.
A talented voice actor too whose velvet tones were described by Helen Mirren as able to ‘suggest honey or a hidden stiletto blade’, he lent his vocals to films including The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and 2010’s Alice in Wonderland but is perhaps best known for his performance as Hogwarts professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series.
His last two films, wartime political thriller Eye in the Sky and Alice Through the Looking Glass, were released posthumously in 2016.