Claim: Alan Rickman was involved in media production.

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman -LRB- 21 February 1946 -- 14 January 2016 -RRB- was an English actor and director known for playing a variety of roles on stage and on screen . Rickman trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London , and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company , performing in modern and classical theatre productions . His first big television part came in 1982 , but his big break was as the Vicomte de Valmont in the stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985 , for which he was nominated for a Tony Award . Rickman gained wider notice for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series .   Rickman 's other film roles included the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves , for which he received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role , Jamie in Truly , Madly , Deeply , Colonel Brandon in Ang Lee 's Sense and Sensibility , the title character in Rasputin : Dark Servant of Destiny , which won him a Golden Globe , an Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild Award , Harry in Love Actually , P. L. O'Hara in An Awfully Big Adventure , Dr. Alfred Blalock in the Emmy-winning HBO film Something the Lord Made , Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest , and Judge Turpin in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim 's musical of Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street .   Rickman died of cancer on 14 January 2016 at the age of 69 . His final film roles are as Lieutenant General Frank Benson in the thriller Eye in the Sky , and the voice of Absolem , the caterpillar in Alice Through the Looking Glass .