The Untold Story of Alan Rickman's Rise to Fame

MsMojo

Alan Rickman had a remarkable rise to fame. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at Alan Rickman’s unlikely journey to international stardom.

Transcript

00:00 - Carson, I trust you justify your intrusion

00:04 with news of profound value.

00:06 - Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking

00:09 at Alan Rickman's unlikely journey to international stardom.

00:13 - I played Richard III.

00:15 - Five curtain calls.

00:16 - There were five curtain calls.

00:18 - Early years.

00:20 - I think I had always known that I wanted to act,

00:24 but I was never quite sure of the route to that.

00:28 - Rickman was born to working class parents

00:30 in West London in 1946,

00:32 and he spent much of his childhood living in public housing.

00:35 After his father passed away from cancer

00:37 when Rickman was just eight years old,

00:39 his mother was forced to raise four children

00:41 on a postal worker's salary.

00:43 From a young age, Rickman was a talented artist,

00:46 and in grade school, he also discovered a love for theater.

00:49 After primary school, he enrolled

00:51 in the Chelsea College of Art and Design,

00:53 and later the Royal College of Art,

00:55 considering art to be a safer career path than theater.

00:58 - I don't know that I thought

01:00 this would be part of my life.

01:03 To be perfectly honest,

01:04 having a film career at all is a bit of a surprise.

01:08 - He went on to work for a successful graphic designer

01:10 for several years, even starting his own studio

01:13 with a few friends.

01:14 However, his love of acting soon called him

01:16 back to the stage.

01:17 After doing amateur theater for a time,

01:19 he applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

01:22 and was accepted, a move that he himself

01:24 said changed his life.

01:26 - You can see how the dots join up a bit,

01:29 and you see that the art school part of me

01:31 gets put together with the drama school part of me

01:35 and the theater part of me.

01:36 - Entrance into professional acting.

01:39 If you've seen Rickman in any major role,

01:41 you know that it seems like he was born

01:43 to be on the big screen.

01:45 But he didn't get his first on-screen role

01:47 until his 30s, and that was on TV.

01:50 - Stand me, Benvolio, and look upon thy death.

01:53 - After finishing drama school,

01:54 he began working as a stage actor

01:56 and soon landed major roles

01:58 with well-known theater companies.

01:59 His success was at least partly thanks

02:01 to his instantly recognizable voice

02:03 and unique way of speaking.

02:05 - That's true, she has resisted me

02:07 for more than two months now,

02:08 and that's very nearly a record,

02:09 but I really don't want to hurry things.

02:12 - This wasn't an affectation.

02:14 Rickman was forced to speak slowly

02:16 because of a birth defect that made his jaw stiff.

02:19 In the late 1970s, he starred onstage

02:22 as Sherlock Holmes and appeared

02:23 in a number of Shakespeare productions.

02:25 In 1978, he appeared on TV for the first time

02:28 as Tybalt in a BBC production of "Romeo and Juliet."

02:32 He would go on to have several more minor roles

02:34 on British television and major roles

02:36 in British theater throughout the 1980s.

02:39 - Sorry about the mess.

02:40 - Oh, no, no, no.

02:41 - No, no, no.

02:42 (audience laughing)

02:44 - Actually, it is pretty bad, isn't it?

02:46 - Die hard.

02:47 - Everything changed for Rickman in 1988

02:49 when his role as the villain Hans Gruber

02:51 shot him to overnight superstardom.

02:53 Producer Joel Silver saw Rickman perform on Broadway

02:57 as Le Vicomte de Valmont in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses,"

03:01 aka "Dangerous Liaisons,"

03:03 and knew he'd make the perfect big-screen baddie.

03:06 However, Rickman didn't immediately feel the same way.

03:09 - I read it and I said, "What the hell is this?

03:12 "I'm not doing an action movie."

03:14 - He wasn't sure he wanted to start his film career

03:17 with a project that was such a far cry

03:18 from any stage or TV role he had up to that point.

03:21 However, his friends convinced him

03:23 that the opportunity was too big to turn down,

03:26 and we're glad they did.

03:27 - When they touch down, we'll blow the roof.

03:29 They'll spend a month sifting through the rubble,

03:30 and by the time they figure out what went wrong,

03:33 we'll be sitting on a beach earning 20%.

03:36 - "Die Hard" was a smash hit,

03:38 with critics particularly praising Rickman's performance.

03:41 Hans Gruber consistently shows up on lists

03:43 of the greatest movie villains of all time,

03:46 thanks to Rickman's incredibly memorable performance.

03:49 - After all your posturing, all your little speeches,

03:52 you're nothing but a common thief.

03:54 - I am an exceptional thief, Mrs. MacLean.

03:58 - 1990s rise to fame.

04:00 Following the success of "Die Hard,"

04:02 offers for major movie roles began flooding in.

04:05 Rickman quickly accepted parts in two big-budget films,

04:08 1990s "Quigley Down Under"

04:10 and 1991's "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves."

04:13 While "Quigley" was a bit of a flop,

04:16 "Robin Hood" was a huge box office draw.

04:18 - Well, at least I didn't use a spoon.

04:20 It's good steel.

04:25 - Critics were lukewarm on the film,

04:27 but once again, they loved Rickman

04:29 as the evil sheriff of Nottingham,

04:31 and the performance earned him a BAFTA award

04:33 for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

04:35 Understandably, Rickman began worrying

04:37 about being typecast as a villain.

04:39 - That's it then.

04:41 - Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans.

04:43 No more merciful beheadings.

04:46 And call off Christmas.

04:48 - To counter this, he turned down the role

04:50 of Bond villain Alec Trevelyan in "Goldeneye"

04:53 and accepted roles in smaller-budget movies

04:56 that allowed him to explore his range as an actor.

04:59 One of the most memorable and beloved of these

05:01 was the British film "Truly, Madly, Deeply,"

05:03 in which Rickman plays the ghost

05:05 of a woman's deceased boyfriend.

05:06 He finished out the decade

05:08 with parts in two more major films.

05:10 He played a snarky angel in Kevin Smith's "Dogma,"

05:13 and in "Galaxy Quest,"

05:14 he portrays a Shakespearean actor

05:16 who's annoyed that he's best known for playing an alien,

05:19 a part that seemed made for Rickman.

05:21 These roles enabled him to flex his comedic chops

05:24 for American audiences in a way he'd never done before.

05:27 - By Grabthar's hammer.

05:29 What a savings.

05:34 - Harry Potter.

05:36 In the 2000s, a new generation of fans

05:38 was introduced to Rickman

05:39 as the loathsome Professor Severus Snape.

05:42 Though today, it's almost impossible

05:44 to imagine any other actor in the role,

05:46 Rickman reportedly took a long time to commit to it.

05:49 - Has it ever crossed your brilliant mind

05:51 that I don't want to do this anymore?

05:54 - His hesitation is understandable,

05:56 considering he'd been working hard

05:58 to avoid being seen as nothing but a villain.

06:00 At the time he signed on to play Snape,

06:02 not all of the books had been released,

06:04 and we didn't know where the character was headed.

06:07 - I will attempt to penetrate your mind.

06:10 You will attempt to resist.

06:13 Prepare yourself.

06:15 - Contrary to popular rumors,

06:16 Rickman was almost as much in the dark as the fans.

06:19 However, J.K. Rowling did share one small detail

06:22 with Rickman early on,

06:24 the fact that his character

06:25 had once been in love with Lily Potter.

06:28 That knowledge enabled him

06:29 to play the seemingly villainous Snape

06:31 with even more depth and complexity.

06:34 - It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness,

06:37 but I'll do my best.

06:39 - Other 2000s roles.

06:41 Despite shooting eight Harry Potter movies

06:43 in just 10 years,

06:44 Rickman also managed to squeeze in other movie roles

06:47 and TV appearances in between.

06:49 He even directed plays in both New York

06:51 and London during this time.

06:53 - I was going to ask about

06:54 the different directors you work with.

06:55 Have you learned different things

06:56 from all of those directors?

06:57 - I think if you're smart, you learn from all of them,

07:00 and you watch them and think,

07:01 well, I wouldn't handle it like that.

07:03 So you learn from that as much as going,

07:05 well, I'm stealing that.

07:06 - Perhaps the most famous of his movies from the 2000s,

07:09 aside from Harry Potter, of course,

07:10 is Love Actually,

07:12 in which he got to play a romantic lead

07:14 for the first time in years.

07:16 His character, Harry, is torn between being loyal

07:19 to his wife and family

07:20 and pursuing an affair with a flirtatious young employee.

07:24 - I am so in the mood.

07:27 A classic fool.

07:29 - The tireless actor also showed up

07:31 in other major movies like Sweeney Todd,

07:33 The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,

07:35 as well as lesser known and independent films

07:37 like romantic dramedy, Snowcake.

07:40 - I can make it up, right?

07:41 - Yes, that's the best bit.

07:43 - Okay.

07:45 - Before we continue,

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08:00 Final years.

08:02 Rickman never slowed down.

08:04 Even in the last years of his life,

08:05 he continued showing up on the big screen

08:07 in both major and minor movies,

08:09 including a brief but memorable turn as Ronald Reagan

08:13 in Lee Daniels, The Butler.

08:14 - I sometimes fear I'm on the wrong side of it

08:20 and I'm just wrong.

08:23 - In 2014, he stepped into the role of director

08:26 for A Little Chaos, a period drama,

08:28 which he also co-wrote and appeared in as King Louis XIV.

08:32 He also teamed up with Tim Burton again

08:35 to provide the voice of Absalom,

08:37 the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland.

08:39 He even returned to the stage to star in not one,

08:41 but two plays, John Gabriel Borgman,

08:44 which he performed in both Dublin and New York

08:46 and Seminar, which premiered on Broadway.

08:49 - It doesn't matter that there's no subject

08:51 or story or idea.

08:53 (audience laughing)

08:56 It's got power.

08:57 - In 2016, Rickman tragically passed away

09:00 from pancreatic cancer.

09:02 The news came as a shock to many of his former colleagues,

09:04 especially since the actor had only shared his diagnosis

09:07 with a few people.

09:08 Many fellow actors shared tributes,

09:10 raving about his warmth and kindness,

09:13 and fans even created a memorial to the late star

09:16 at the Platform 9 3/4 sign at King's Cross Station.

09:19 Though his entry to Hollywood stardom

09:21 came relatively late in life,

09:23 he left behind a legacy that will last long after his passing.

09:27 - Which is to give people a good time,

09:29 to go to the movies and have a night off from life,

09:33 really, is what that is.

09:35 - Which of Alan Rickman's roles

09:36 do you think is the most iconic?

09:38 Let us know in the comments.

09:40 - I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory,

09:44 and even put a stopper in death.

09:48 - Do you agree with our picks?

09:49 Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo,

09:52 and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell

09:54 to be notified about our latest videos.

09:56 (upbeat music)

09:59 (upbeat music)

10:01 (upbeat music)

10:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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