Alan Rickman Quotes

• What is it about actors? God knows I get bored with actors talking about themselves.

  Alan Rickman

• call with Jo Rowling, containing one small clue, persuaded me that there was more to Snape than an unchanging costume, and that even though only three of the books were out at that time, she held the entire massive but delicate narrative in the surest of hands.

  Alan Rickman

• There’s a voice inside you that tells you what you should do.

  Alan Rickman

• The audience should feel like voyeurs. Their response is absolutely crucial.

  Alan Rickman

• Talent is an accident of genes – and a responsibility.

  Alan Rickman

• Somebody with Debbie Reynolds’ features doesn’t get cast as the Wicked Witch.

  Alan Rickman

• One longs for a director with a sense of imagination.

  Alan Rickman

• On the screen were some flashback shots of Daniel, Emma and Rupert from ten years ago. They were 12. I have also recently returned from New York, and while I was there, I saw Daniel singing and dancing (brilliantly) on Broadway. A lifetime seems to have passed in minutes.

  Alan Rickman

• On film you put all your energies into a single glance.

  Alan Rickman

• Nothing gives me as much pleasure as travelling. I love getting on trains and boats and planes.

  Alan Rickman

• My parents certainly didn’t have anything to do with the theater. I’m some kind of accident.

  Alan Rickman

• My idea of a real treat is Magic Mountain without standing in line.

   

   

   

   

  Alan Rickman

• Maverick is a word which appeals to me more than misfit. Maverick is active, misfit is passive.

  Alan Rickman

• Market forces impose certain rules before a film can actually get made.

  Alan Rickman

• It’s a nightmare to sit and watch a film that I’m in. There’s a horrible inescapability to it.

  Alan Rickman

• It would be wonderful to think that the future is unknown and sort of surprising.

  Alan Rickman

• It is an ancient need to be told stories. But the story needs a great storyteller. Thanks for all of it, Jo.

  Alan Rickman

• If you spend any time in Los Angeles, there’s only one topic of conversation.

  Alan Rickman

• If you could build a house on a trampoline, that would suit me fine.

  Alan Rickman

• If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work.

  Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman (60)

Birth:	21st February, 1946
Nationality:	British
Profession:	Actor

About

Rickman was born in South Hammersmith, London, to a working class family. Rickman attended Derwentwater Primary School, in Acton, a school that followed the Montessori method of education. Rickman excelled at calligraphy and watercolour painting, and from Derwentwater Junior School he won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in London, where he started getting involved in drama. After leaving Latymer, Rickman attended Chelsea College of Art and Design and then the Royal College of Art. This education allowed him to work as a graphic designer for the radical newspaper the Notting Hill Herald, which he considered a more stable occupation than acting.
After graduation, Rickman and several friends opened a graphic design studio called Graphiti, but after three years of successful business, he decided that if he were to ever explore acting professionally, it was now or never. This led him to write a letter to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) requesting an audition and was awarded a place in RADA which he attended from 1972–74. While there, he studied Shakespeare's works and supported himself by working as a dresser for Sir Nigel Hawthorne and Sir Ralph Richardson, and left after winning several prizes, including the Emile Littler Prize, the Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Medal.
After graduating from RADA, Rickman worked extensively with various British repertory and experimental theatre groups on productions including The Seagull and Snoo Wilson's The Grass Widow at the Royal Court Theatre, and has appeared three times at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1978, he played with the Court Drama Group, performing in several plays, most notably Romeo And Juliet and A View from the Bridge. While working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) he starred in, among other things, As You Like It.
Rickman is known for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, Éamon de Valera in Michael Collins, and Metatron in Dogma.

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Today's Anniversary - 27th December

Births

• 1906 - Oscar Levant
• 1955 - Barbara Olson
• 1930 - Meg Greenfield
• 1946 - Polly Toynbee
• 1969 - Sarah Vowell

Deaths

• 2003 - Alan Bates
• 1994 - Marjorie Joyner
• 1938 - Zona Gale
• 1985 - Potter Stewart