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British actor Alan Rickman, whose roles ranged from Hollywood villains to Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films, has died aged 69 after a battle with cancer.
JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter novels and actress Emma Thompson, who starred opposite Rickman in multiple films, have joined legions of fans and colleagues paying tribute to the venerable star of more than 40 films and many theatre productions.
Rickman's signature performances span decades and genres. With his aquiline features and cultured - if often menacing - English accent, he became one of Britain's best-known actors of stage and screen over the last 30 years with a career stretching from the Royal Shakespeare Company to sci-fi spoof Galaxy Quest.
"The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends," his family said in a statement on Thursday.
A graduate of London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Rickman got his big break appearing in the Broadway version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in the mid-1980s, before making his first major film appearance as Hans Gruber in Die Hard soon afterwards.
That was to be the first of many performances as a villain, including Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, for which he won a Bafta, the British equivalent of an Oscar.
He also won a Golden Globe and an Emmy during his career and despite his reputation for playing the "baddie", he was also acclaimed for more sensitive roles in films such as Truly Madly Deeply, and Love, Actually.
Tributes flow for a 'great talent'
Rowling was quick to profess her sadness at Rickman's death, writing on Twitter that there were "no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman's death. He was a magnificent actor & a wonderful man", while also extending her sympathy to his family.
"Everybody loved Alan. He was always happy and fun and creative and very, very funny," veteran British actor Michael Gambon, who played Albus Dumbledore in many of the Harry Potter films, told BBC radio.
"He had a great voice, he spoke wonderfully well, he was intelligent, he wrote plays and he directed a play. So he was a real man of the theatre and the stage."
British actress Thompson worked with Rickman in a range of films, including Sense and Sensibility and Love, Actually, and described him as the "ultimate ally".
"What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness," she said, according to TIME.
"He was the ultimate ally. In life, art and politics. I trusted him absolutely. He was, above all things, a rare and unique human being and we shall not see his like again."
Ian McKellan posted a lengthy tribute to Rickman on Facebook, acknowledging both his incredible ability as well as his deep humanity and strength of character. He shared a story about filming the TV movie Rasputin with Rickman, in which McKellan was given a "patronising, bullying note" from the director.
"Alan, seeing I was a little crestfallen, delivered a quiet, concise resumé of my career and loudly demanded that the director up his game," wrote McKellan.
"Behind his starry insouciance and careless elegance, behind that mournful face, which was just as beautiful when wracked with mirth, there was a super-active spirit, questing and achieving, a super-hero, unassuming but deadly effective."
Actor, writer and presenter Stephen Fry also paid tribute to Rickman's talent, charm and presence.
Harry Potter stars and fans mourn Severus Snape
To a younger generation, Rickman was best known as Professor Severus Snape, the star of the hugely successful Harry Potter films.
Emma Watson, who played Hermoine, said: "Alan was my friend. Finest of actors and directors. Not see his like again," while Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry, described Rickman as "one of the greatest actors I will ever work with".
Fans around the world shared a clip from the film Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in which the students at Hogwarts raise their wands in honour of their fallen headmaster, Dumbledore, after his death. Instead though, fans used the image to pay tribute to "Snape".
In an interview with The New York Times in 2012, Rickman said the mysterious Professor Snape was an unusually complex character, and he signed on without a clear idea of how the character would evolve over the course of eight films.
"With the last film it was very cathartic because you were finally able to see who he was," Rickman said. "It was strange, in a way, to play stuff that was so emotional. A lot of the time you're working in two dimensions, not three."
Legacy of activism praised
The Guardian newspaper said Rickman was always politically active with the left-wing Labour Party and his wife, Rima Horton, his partner of more than 50 years whom he married in secret last year, had been a Labour councillor in London.
"Really sad to hear about Alan Rickman. Brilliant actor, deeply principled man. My heart goes out to Rima and his family," Ed Miliband, Labour's former leader who led the party to defeat in last year's election, said on Twitter.
Rickman was in Sydney in March last year to present French period drama A Little Chaos at the Spectrum Now festival. He directed the film and played King Louis XIV.
His last film performance was as the voice of the Blue Caterpillar in Alice Through the Looking Glass, which will be released later this year.