.The London-born star has died aged 69 after battling cancer in secret
- .He was known for his roles in Harry Potter, Robin Hood and Love Actually
- .Rickman began his career on the stage before finding fame in Hollywood
- .Other stars were quick to pay tribute after the unexpected news emerged
- .See more on Alan Rickman's death at www.dailymail.co.uk/alanrickman
Alan Rickman has died at the age of 69 after waging a secret battle with cancer, his family said today.
The British actor, known for his roles in films such as Harry Potter and Robin Hood, kept his fight with illness private before his death.
He passed away in hospital this morning, surrounded by relatives and friends.
J.K. Rowling led the tributes to Rickman today, calling him 'a magnificent actor and a wonderful man', as dozens of celebrities and public figures expressed their grief over his death.
Tragic: Alan Rickman has died aged 69; one of the last times he was seen in public was in November, posing with writer Lin-Manuel Miranda backstage at the musical Hamilton in New York
Fame: Rickman was known to many as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films
Rickman revealed last year that he had secretly married his long-term partner Rima Horton in a New York ceremony in 2012, whom he had been in a relationship with since 1977, in a New York ceremony in 2012.
His family said in a statement today: 'The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends.'
His brother David, 71, added: 'He passed away this morning. He was in a hospital at the time.'
Rickman, who was born into a working-class family in London, began his acting career on the stage before graduating to Hollywood films.
He became one of the best-known villains in showbiz - appearing as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films.
The actor's other well-known films include Truly, Madly, Deeply, Sense and Sensibility and Love Actually, in which he played the wife of his frequent collaborator Emma Thompson.
Couple: Rickman pictured with his wife Rima, whom he secretly married in 2012 after 35 years together
Family: The couple with director Jude Kelly at a party at the Royal Festival Hall in London in May 2007
J.K. Rowling said on Twitter today: 'There are no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman's death. He was a magnificent actor and a wonderful man.
'My thoughts are with Rima and the rest of Alan's family. We have all lost a great talent. They have lost part of their hearts.'
Author Tony Parsons added: 'Alan Rickman added a touch of class to everything he touched.'
And Stephen Fry said: 'What desperately sad news about Alan Rickman. A man of such talent, wicked charm and stunning screen and stage presence. He'll be sorely missed.'
Boy George was one of many to highlight Rickman's role as Snape, tweeting: 'Goodbye Alan Rickman. You were genius in Harry Potter.'
Several fans mentioned that Rickman's death came just a few days after that of David Bowie, who also died aged 69 after secretly fighting cancer.
Villainous: Rickman played a series of screen baddies starting with Hans Gruber in 1988's Die Hard
Co-stars: Rickman in Truly, Madly Deeply with Juliette Stevenson and Michael Maloney
New film: Rickman is appearing in the forthcoming film Eye in the Sky
Eddie Izzard said: 'I do not want my heroes to die! Alan Rickman is dead and he was another hero. Alan - thank you for being with us. We are sorry you had to go.'
Rickman's death comes shortly before the release of a new film called Eye In The Sky in which he stars alongside Helen Mirren and Aaron Paul, due to open in Britain on April 8.
Just last year, the star revealed he had married long-term partner Rima Horton, half a century after they first meet as teenagers.
Talking about the ceremony, Rickman said: 'It was great because no one was there. After the wedding in New York, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate lunch.'
Rickman's wife is a former Labour councillor in London, and the actor often joined the party on the campaign trail around the country.
A number of Labour politicians shared tributes to the star today, including leader Jeremy Corbyn who said: 'Very sad to hear that Alan Rickman has passed away. One of the greatest actors of his generation. My thoughts are with his family and friends.'
Ex-leader Ed Miliband mourned the 'deeply principled' activist, while his brother David called Rickman 'a giant and a gent'.
Mourning: A number of stars and other public figures paid tribute to Rickman following the news of his death
Rickman, who had three siblings, was brought up by his mother Margaret after his father Bernard died when Alan was just eight years old.
They lived in Acton, West London, and the future star won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School before going to art school and then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
After more than a decade of success on the stage and in television, Rickman made his film debut in 1988's Die Hard, instantly becoming one of Hollywood's top villains.
Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theatre, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference
Rickman was a director as well as an actor - but he was unable to go behind the camera for almost two decades because of his duties on the Harry Potter films.
Speaking after his film A Little Chaos, in which he played Louis XIV, he revealed that he had not expected to be tied up with the magical children's film for so long.
'I wasn't free until now because I started doing Harry Potter, and when I started there were only three books written so I didn't know I was going to be unable [to direct],' he said.
'Because if you're going to direct a film it's over a year of your life and I didn't have that. So once I had finished with that series of films I was free.'
He often spoke about the importance he attached to his craft, saying: 'Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theatre, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world
The best-loved villain in Hollywood: From the Sheriff of Nottingham to Professor Snape, Alan Rickman's dazzling career on stage and screen
By STEPH COCKROFT
Alan Rickman was one of the best-loved and most warmly admired British actors of the past 30 years.
The actor and director became a big screen name when he appeared to huge critical acclaim as Hans Gruber, Bruce Willis’s sardonic adversary, in Die Hard.
Throughout the illustrious career that followed, Rickman transcended both the romantic and the villainous, starring as some of cinema's best known baddies - including as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - but also romantic, honourable characters such as Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility.
More recently, Rickman earned himself a new legion of fans when he played Professor Snape in the Harry Potter film franchise.
Throughout his 30-year career, he transcended both romantic and villainous characters, including in Truly Madly Deeply and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, in which he played the Sheriff of Nottingham (pictured)
In 2014, he directed and starred as French King Louis XIV alongside Kate Winslet in A Little Chaos. A Little Chaos was the star’s second outing behind the camera, 18 years after he directed Emma Thompson in Scotland-based drama The Winter Guest.
Yet it was Rickman’s work on stage that established him as such a compelling talent, and to which he returned throughout his career.
After graduating from RADA, he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company across several stages, before getting his breakthrough in 1986 as Valmont in Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
In 2002, he starred in Noel Coward’s Private Lives, which transferred to Broadway after a successful run in London.
During his career, he won a BAFTA, a Golden Globe award, an Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
When he received a Bafta for his performance in Robin Hood, he said: 'I'll take this as a healthy reminder that subtlety... isn't everything.'
Rickman's career is set to continue with the release of Eye in the Sky - a thriller about drone warfare in which he stars alongside Helen Mirren and Aaron Paul - in April.
Much-loved: Alan Rickman appeared in Love Actually as a husband who considers an affair with a colleague
The star had also completed another film set for release later this year called Alice Through The Looking Glass.
Born in in Acton, London, in 1946 to a working class family, Rickman attended the Chelsea College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, before working as a graphic designer for the radical newspaper the Notting Hill Herald.
With two friends, he opened a graphic design studio but, three years later, he decided to pursue acting full time. He was awarded a place at the prestigious RADA school in London, leaving in 1974.
In 1982, British television audiences came to know Alan Rickman as the Reverend Obadiah Slope in the BBC's adaptation of Barchester Towers, known as the Barchester Chronicles.
His career went on to include a wide variety of roles. In 1992, he was the 'master of ceremonies' on Mike Oldfield's album Tubular Bells II album.
He played Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply before becoming known to the younger generation as potions master Severus Snape in Harry Potter.
Rickman also starred in the musical of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and more recently in Love Actually, in which his character Harry falls for his younger colleague Mia.
Last year at the Scottish premiere of A Little Chaos, Rickman said he had no idea JK Rowling’s Harry Potter tale would stretch to six novels and seven films when he took the role of Snape in 2001.
'I wasn’t free until now because I started doing Harry Potter, and when I started there were only three books written so I didn’t know I was going to be unable (to direct),' he said.
'Because if you’re going to direct a film it’s over a year of your life and I didn’t have that.
“So once I had finished with that series of films I was free, and then along came this wonderful script.'
The actor and director became a big screen name when he appeared to huge critical acclaim as Hans Gruber, Bruce Willis’s sardonic adversary, in Die Hard (pictured)
Rickman was also viewed by many as a movie heart-throb and, striking a blow for the more mature actor, he was ranked in seventh place in a sexiest actor list by Total Film magazine in 2013 at the age of 66, beating stars such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney.
In April 2012, he married Rima Horton, his partner of 50 years, whom he met when he 19.
The couple, who had been together since 1977, tied the knot in a secret ceremony in New York, but only revealed the news years later.
In an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper, he was asked what the secret to a successful relationship without getting married is and he surprisingly replied: 'We are married. Just recently. It was great, because no one was there. After the wedding in New York we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate lunch.'
Economist Rima was a Labour party councillor for the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council from 1986 to 2006. They met when she was 18.
In his spare time, Rickman - who was politically active - supported many charities and was an active patron of the charity Saving Faces.
He was also an honorary president of the International Performers' Aid Trust, a charity that alleviates poverty in some of the world's toughest conditions.
When talking about politics, Rickman has said he 'was born a card-carrying member of the Labour Party'.
Despite winning a host of awards, Rickman never won an Oscar. Speaking about awards, he said in 2008: 'Parts win prizes, not actors.'
More recently, he earned himself a new legion of fans when he played Professor Snape in the Harry Potter film franchise.
Yet it was Rickman’s work on stage that established him as such a compelling talent, and to which he returned throughout his career.
The star had also completed another film set for release later this year called Alice Through The Looking Glass, in which he plays the caterpillar (pictured)
After graduating from RADA, he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company before a breakthrough in 1986 as Valmont, the mordant seducer in Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
In 2002, he starred in Noel Coward’s Private Lives, which transferred to Broadway after a successful run in London.
During his career, he won a BAFTA, a Golden Globe award, an Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Born in in Acton, London, in 1946 to a working class family, Rickman attended the Chelsea College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, before working as a graphic designer for the radical newspaper the Notting Hill Herald.
With two friends, he opened a graphic design studio but, three years later, he decided to persue acting full time. He was awarded a place at the presitigous RADA school in London, leaving in 1974.
In 1982, British television audiences came to know Alan Rickman as the Reverend Obadiah Slope in the BBC's adaptation of Barchester Towers, known as the Barchester Chronicles.
His career has been filled with a wide variety of roles. In 1992, he was the 'master of ceremonies' on Mike Oldfield's album Tubulur Bells II albim,
He has played romantic leads like Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility, Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deepy and numerous villians in Hollywood blockbusters, such as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
He most recently played potions master Severus Snape in Harry Potter.
In April 2012, Rickman married Rima Horton, his partner of 50 years, whom he met when he 19.
The couple, who had been together since 1977, tied the knot in a secret ceremony in New York.
In an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper, he was asked what the secret to a successful relationship without getting married is and he surprisingly replied: 'We are married. Just recently. It was great, because no one was there. After the wedding in New York we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate lunch.'
Economist Rima was a Labour party councillor for the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council from 1986 to 2006.
In his spare time, Rickman supported many charities and was an active patron of the charity Saving Faces. He was also an honorary president of the International Performers' Aid Trust, a charity that alleviates poverty in some of the world's toughest conditions.
When talking about politics, Rickman has said he 'was born a card-carrying member of the Labour Party'.
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