Alan Rickman was a highly regarded British actor who had a long and colourful career. His passing at the start of 2016 at the age of 69 shocked many. So in light of the late actor’s passing, here are 13 fascinating facts about Alan Rickman
- He married his long-term girlfriend, Rima Horton, in 2012 after spending 47 years in a relationship together. They first met as teenagers.
- The reason he never had any children is because his wife didn’t want any and he wanted to respect her wishes.
- While shooting Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he pranked co-star Daniel Radcliffe by placing a fart machine in his sleeping bag right before Radcliffe was due to shoot a scene.
- He was really good friends with comedienne Ruby Wax and directed her in a number of productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
- At one time, he was a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
- He went to the same school as Hugh Grant and was considered for the lead role in Four Weddings and a Funeral, which went to Grant and made him famous.
- He would frequently turn down roles in films so he could concentrate on theatre, which was his first love.
- He was born unable to properly move his jaw, which resulted in a speech impediment and was partly what made his voice so distinctive.
- Of all the Harry Potter cast, Rickman was the only one who knew the fate of his character before the final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released. J. K. Rowling found herself unable to keep secrets about his character from him.
- He was J. K. Rowling’s first choice to play Severus Snape but he only got the role after Tim Roth, who the studio had in mind as first choice, dropped out.
- He once worked for the Notting Hill Herald as a graphic designer before his acting career took off.
- He was fascinated by birds, especially when they flew together in flocks.
- He never watched anything he was in. He thought if he did, he would start editing himself.
