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[R.I.P.] Alan Rickman


Old_Nash

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Yeah, this has certainly been a sad 2016 so far. First David Bowie and now Alan Rickman.

Alan Rickman was a special actor to me not just because he was very skilled and entertaining, but because he came along at the right moment in my then young life to teach me an important lesson about public image and celebrity. For me, Alan Rickman was the first actor for which I learned to separate Rickman the person from the characters Rickman played. Like many young boys my age, I first saw him in “Die Hard” (1988) and loved him so much, I had to learn more about him. As I read and watched interviews I learned more about Alan Rickman and then realized he was a very genuine, personable, funny fellow…nothing like the evil Hans Gruber. At that young age, this realization not only heightened my opinion of his acting but it was also the point at which I made it my business to know actors by name and as real people rather than “that person in that film”. Many years later I would come to realize how important this critical thinking skill was, but it also allowed me to enjoy films, film actors and filmmakers while divorcing myself from the intolerable industry of celebrity. I’d never met Alan Rickman and he wasn’t my friend, so I didn’t want to know about his day-to-day life, or who he was married to, or for what his ex’s or idiot sons/daughters were arrested. He taught me to focus upon and respect the only relationship that mattered, he as the performer and me as the audience watching that performance.

For all his great performances - whether in Die Hard, Sense and Sensibility, Galaxy Quest or Harry Potter – I am grateful. You will be missed Mr. Rickman!

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Sorry about your family, pal.

Thank you. Ignorantly, and illogically, I have to wonder why science hasn't beaten this thing yet...

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He will be missed, but is it wrong for me to wonder, who will number 3 be? They always come in threes, so what 69 year old entertainer will succumb to cancer next?

Already hit Number 3:

1. Lemmy (from Motörhead)

2. Bowie

3. Hans FREAKIN' Gruber

I guess, technically, Lemmy was 70, but it's close enough.

And yeah, frak cancer.

Edited by Mog
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I remember Die Hard in 1998, up until then, Germans were the bad guys personified by Hilter in WWII.

Hans Gruber was for me the new definition of Germans after the movie, smart, hip, full of witty one liners, and utterly evil. And imagine, I didn't realize he was British until years later. (ha, I still thought it was odd choice to have a German being the Sheriff of Nottingham)

Rickman was truly a great actor. RIP

Edited by kalvasflam
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