I was devastated after logging onto Twitter on Thursday morning to discover what many were already talking about: Actor Alan Rickman passed away at 69 after suffering from a bout with cancer.
His death has put a few things in perspective: First of all, it’s been made clear to me that many people didn’t even know who Rickman was, other than being the guy who played the greasy-haired and morally ambiguous character of Snape in the “Harry Potter” films.
Thursday morning, when I turned to the person next to me to ask if they’d heard about Rickman’s death, they gave me a confused glance and asked if I had known the man personally. (Unfortunately, I had not.)
This shouldn’t be too surprising to me, and it’s understandable. There will always be people who don’t know about the existence or works of others, no matter how famous or widely discussed the person might be. I’m certain it’s possible to find some fortunate, uninformed soul in the vastness of the U.S. who might give you a dumbfounded look when Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is mentioned.
It has unfortunately been made clear to me that the celebrities we love, the actors and authors we love, will someday pass away. All the characters we love to read about, the personalities we identify with, chat about and crush over will one day leave this world. It’s a pretty darn bleak thought, really.
Rickman has been part of my life since I first watched him play the dramatically long-suffering character of Alexander Dane in “Galaxy Quest” as a middle-schooler. I loved him then with his disdainful humor and his mellifluous voice, and I’ve loved him since.
In contrast, I hated the character of Snape. He uses his unhealthy obsession over a girl as his motivating force in life, is absolutely horrible to Neville and Hermione for no reason I can tell other than to be a jerk and never possesses the spine to truly tell Harry why he acted so spitefully. Nevertheless, Rickman did a wonderful job playing him, a fact that helped warm me up to Snape through the years.
For those of us who have seen Rickman in more roles than just that of Snape, here are a few of my favorite moments of his acting: Rickman had a long and fruitful career in theater before going into movies as an actor in the Royal Shakespeare Company. He played a number of literary acting roles in his lifetime, and I fully recommend anyone who enjoyed his slippery, elegantly voiced portrayal of Snape to go explore his other works.
Rickman played the genteel and heartbreaking Col. Brandon in the 1995 movie version of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility.” Brandon has to wait a long time to get his love, but he’s one of the most well-intentioned heartthrobs you’ll find in an Austen novel. If you want to see him as a true romantic hero, this is the movie to watch.
Another of my favorite Rickman roles is his epic portrayal of the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” The movie is a loose adaptation of the classic tale of Robin Hood, mixing action and adventure with wisecracking humor. Rickman received the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for best actor in a supporting role for his dastardly deeds as sheriff and does a stellar job of playing the character as an intriguing mix of hilarity and insanity.
This past week has been a stark reminder that the much-loved celebrities in our lives will eventually pass on, just as we all will. The inevitability of death makes their passing no less saddening, but thankfully the art they created helps all of us remember them.
Sally Greider is a UF English and public relations junior. Her column appears on Wednesdays.
