# Alan Rickman dies at 69 of cancer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2016, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124 "2016-01-14T13:00:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/101 "2016-01-15T04:05:37Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Donald Trump is 69 years old. Just saying. 😉 So’s Bill Clinton. Just sayin’. 😃 (Hillary’s 68, Sanders is 74). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/102 "2016-01-15T04:38:41Z")
Keep the political jabs out of this thread. Thanks. > [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Donald Trump is 69 years old. Just saying. 😉 > [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > So’s Bill Clinton. Just sayin’. 😃 (Hillary’s 68, Sanders is 74). ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/103 "2016-01-15T05:43:08Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > First time I saw Mr. Rickman act was the Barchester Chronicals. He played a swarmy Mr. Slope. [Obadiah Slope](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcwNdUkNCik). Yeah, he made quite an impression in that; I still remembered him long afterwards, then when he showed up in Die Hard it was all “Yay! Obadiah Slope!” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/104 "2016-01-15T13:46:19Z")
The list of Alan Rickman lines and scenes I love is too long to mention. “Alas, your Mr. Takagi didn’t see it that way. So, he won’t be joining us for the rest of… his life.” Very few celebrity deaths bother me - I mean, it’s unfortunate David Bowie died but I don’t feel anything about it. This one does, probably the first one to bother me since Adam Yauch. Rickman was a wonderful actor who always, always put 100% into his work, was loved by anyone he worked with, and delivered the goods in a lot of fantastic movies in a wide variety of genres. He made it big in Hollywood in his 40s because he just kept working hard. It seems very unfair he died as young as he did. I can cite a thousand great scenes but a good illustration of his skill is the scene in “Galaxy Quest,” a silly throwaway comedy in which he had every right to just mail it in but instead did a fantastic job, in which the old gang is opening a Best Buy-type store. They all have prepared lines and it finally falls to Rickman/Alexander to say the last line, and he just can’t bring himself to. Sigourney Weaver elbows him and he manages to groan out “By Grabthar’s Hammer… what a savings.” In six words he just completely nails it. He sounds like he is honestly considering whether he wants to say the line or pull out a gun and shoot his own head off. It’s so wonderfully delivered. Incidentally, I have to disagree that Bruce Willis was ill served by acting alongside Alan Rickman in “Die Hard.” Bruce Willis was goddamned fantastic in “Die Hard” and one of the reasons the movie worked as well as it did was the wonderfulness of both Hans Gruber and John McClane. If either character had been less interesting the movie wouldn’t have worked. “Die Hard” is memorable and was immensely influential in large part because those characters were different from the ones we’d seen before. Prior to “Die Hard” the typical screen action hero was an invincible supersoldier, played by someone like Arnold or Chuck Norris. Bruce Willis’s John McClane was indisputably not invincible; he gets hurt a lot, is usually at a disadvantage, and is frightened and disoriented by what happens to him. Similarly, Hans Gruber is not a mustache-twirling maniac like the guy in “Commando” or a racial stereotype; he is quite something different, a cold, intelligent villain, played by an unusually gifted actor, with a mundane goal he intends to achieve with ruthless treachery. (One article notes that, perhaos unintentionally, there is a beautiful irony in that much of Hans Gruber’s scenes involved him acting as if he were something other than what he really is - pretending to be a terrorist, pretending to be Bill Clay, pretending to care about the people he demands the release of, etc.) Those two guys absolutely made the movie. It was AFTER “Die Hard” that top notch actors started being cast as action villains, or so it seems to me. The Hans Gruber role kind of made the villain a good place for a really terrific actor to be. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/105 "2016-01-15T14:29:11Z")
Wait a minute, Alan Rickman has died? That’s it then. Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, and call off Christmas! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/106 "2016-01-15T15:41:27Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > In addition to all his great work already mentioned, I really like his role in _Love Actually_, which I watched once again this holiday season. Such a terrific actor. “And how long have you been in love with Karl, our enigmatic chief designer?” Shit. I need to go back and emend my answer in the thread about which death would affect me most. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/107 "2016-01-15T17:53:51Z")
Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films) posted a very nice tribute to Rickman on Facebook. She never really got to know him during the making of the movies, because he was always Snape and she was always scared of him. But some years later, they were seated next to each other at some charity dinner. To her great surprise, he remembered her, called her by name, and they had a very nice conversation in which she confessed her worries about being a young actor trying to manage her career, and he gave her all sorts of advice about keeping grounded in what can be a very harsh business. I can’t really do it justice in a few words, of course, but if you can find it on Facebook, it’s worth reading, and highlights what a genuinely kind and generous man he was. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/108 "2016-01-15T17:57:17Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Rickman was terrific in every role he’s been in. I especially liked him in **Truly, Madly, Deeply** as a romantic lead. One of my wife’s favorites, although I’ve never seen it. So we thought we would watch it last night, and it turns out that it’s unavailable for streaming from any source; and the DVD is for sale on Amazon for $500. Anybody have any idea what happened? Is it tied up in some sort of legal dispute? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/109 "2016-01-15T18:17:11Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It was AFTER “Die Hard” that top notch actors started being cast as action villains, or so it seems to me. The Hans Gruber role kind of made the villain a good place for a really terrific actor to be. Great as Rickman was in _Die Hard_, I don’t think you can really say he started a trend of good actors as villains. There were plenty in the Bond films (Donald Pleasence, Curd Jurgens, Michael Lonsdale), Steven Berkoff in _Beverly Hills Cop_ (and a Bond villain), and probably lots more. Rickman didn’t start it, he just did it better than most. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/110 "2016-01-15T18:31:50Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > …I can cite a thousand great scenes but a good illustration of his skill is the scene in “Galaxy Quest,” a silly throwaway comedy in which he had every right to just mail it in but instead did a fantastic job, in which the old gang is opening a Best Buy-type store. They all have prepared lines and it finally falls to Rickman/Alexander to say the last line, and he just can’t bring himself to. Sigourney Weaver elbows him and he manages to groan out “By Grabthar’s Hammer… what a savings.” > > In six words he just completely nails it. He sounds like he is honestly considering whether he wants to say the line or pull out a gun and shoot his own head off. It’s so wonderfully delivered… Yes, I’ve always loved his deadpan delivery of that line. A great performance in a very funny movie. > [@jsc1953](#): > > [_Truly, Madly, Deeply_ is one] of my wife’s favorites, although I’ve never seen it. So we thought we would watch it last night, and it turns out that it’s unavailable for streaming from any source; and the DVD is for sale on Amazon for $500. > > Anybody have any idea what happened? Is it tied up in some sort of legal dispute? Dunno. It was never a big movie to start with, and has not really become a cult favorite since 1990. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/111 "2016-01-15T18:41:39Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > One of my wife’s favorites, although I’ve never seen it. So we thought we would watch it last night, and it turns out that it’s unavailable for streaming from any source; and the DVD is for sale on Amazon for $500. > > Anybody have any idea what happened? Is it tied up in some sort of legal dispute? I guess I am lucky I have on VHS taped at super slow speed off the TV/pay per view. I think I need to dig it out and watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/112 "2016-01-15T18:57:09Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Great as Rickman was in _Die Hard_, I don’t think you can really say he started a trend of good actors as villains. There were plenty in the Bond films (Donald Pleasence, Curd Jurgens, Michael Lonsdale), Steven Berkoff in _Beverly Hills Cop_ (and a Bond villain), and probably lots more. I mentioned in an earlier thread that Rickman would’ve been great in Peter Cushing’s role if they needed to do a STAR WARS remake. (And, so long as we’re speaking of movies where Harrison Ford got to run-and-gun his way through mooks but is ultimately up against a well-spoken and deceptive planner who cheerfully brings disheartening facts to an enemy’s attention, Paul Freeman was pretty solid in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/113 "2016-01-15T19:06:00Z")
I’ve never been too wild about Bruce Willis, and it’s due in part to him killing Rickman in Die Hard. I’ve often watched the movie and then quit just before that scene. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/114 "2016-01-15T19:24:16Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I’ve never been too wild about Bruce Willis, and it’s due in part to him killing Rickman in Die Hard. I’ve often watched the movie and then quit just before that scene. ☹ See post 21. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/115 "2016-01-15T20:51:58Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > Timothy Dalton, Tim Curry, David Suchet, Charles Dance, Noddy Holder, Barry Gibb, and David Lynch (and Marianne Faithfull and Joanna Lumley for balance) are all 69 and still with us. > [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Why would you doom them, like that? I just heard some positive news about Tim Curry. For those who don’t know Curry had a very serious stroke in 2012 and has never fully recovered. He’s only done voice roles since then. But he’s agreed to appear in the upcoming _Rocky Horror Show_ remake (as the Criminologist). Regardless of how you feel about the idea of this remake, it’s a good sign that Curry is doing better. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/116 "2016-01-15T21:03:40Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I’ve never been too wild about Bruce Willis, and it’s due in part to him killing Rickman in Die Hard. I’ve often watched the movie and then quit just before that scene. ☹ Oh, so I’m not the only one that does that? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/117 "2016-01-15T21:46:13Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I mentioned in an earlier thread that Rickman would’ve been great in Peter Cushing’s role if they needed to do a STAR WARS remake. He would’ve been great in anything. “Die Hard,” to go back to that again, is a great example of why casting is so much harder than you might think. If you asked anyone in 1988 “Hey, we’re putting together a big time action movie where a due fights a team of evil bad guys in a skyscraper with lots of explosions and shootouts, who should e the hero and who should be the bad guy?” 1. Absolutely no one would have said Bruce Willis should be the hero, because absolutely no one thought of him as an action star. It was an absurd choice, one they did only because Arnold et al. turned it down. Many thought it was a terrible decision. 2. No one outside of theatre knew who the hell Alan Rickman was. And if I’d told you who he was you would have said “Some British guy who does Shakespeare? What? He was in some play with a French name? No! Get me Michael Ironside!” Because, you know, Michael Ironside’s bad ass, right? Get a bad ass! Then Rickman goes on screen and he does Hans Gruber one thousand times better than Michael Ironside could have and boom. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/118 "2016-01-16T01:12:49Z")
Alan Rickman had one of the sexiest voices I’ve ever heard. My favorite line is from “Truly, Madly, Deeply” where Juliet Stevenson asks what he’s doing and his reply is, “I’m warming my lips.” Mmmm. Rest in peace, Mr. Rickman. You will be long remembered & missed. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/119 "2016-01-16T01:35:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I just heard some positive news about Tim Curry. > > For those who don’t know Curry had a very serious stroke in 2012 and has never fully recovered. He’s only done voice roles since then. But he’s agreed to appear in the upcoming _Rocky Horror Show_ remake (as the Criminologist). Regardless of how you feel about the idea of this remake, it’s a good sign that Curry is doing better. Oh no! I hadn’t heard that news about Curry’s health. I hope it continues to improve, I really do. I heard a really funny interview with him, on the radio in Michigan in the late 1980’s. He was in Lansing I think it was, part of a roadshow revival of _42nd Street_, and was being interviewed about his role. He said that ever since he’d done _Rocky Horror_, no matter what other play, movie or musical he was in, the first thing he would be questioned about was _Rocky Horror_. I felt sorry for him then, but he seemed to find it hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124/120 "2016-04-08T21:18:42Z")
Bumped. Sam Rockwell says we might have had a _Galaxy Quest_ sequel but for Rickman’s untimely passing: [Alan Rickman's Death Stopped the 'Galaxy Quest' Sequel That Would Be Filming Now | Moviefone](http://www.moviefone.com/2016/04/07/alan-rickmans-death-stopped-galaxy-quest-sequel-filming-now/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-rickman-dies-at-69-of-cancer/743124.md?page=7)