Legendary Actor Alan Rickman Has Passed Away At 69

Briefly: It’s been a pretty rough start to 2016, hasn’t it?

era-defining musician Davie Bowie passed away just four days ago after a 1.5 year bout with the disease, and today it took another legendary victim: 69 year old Alan Rickman.

Rickman will be remembered not only as the incredible screen and stage actor that he was, but also as some of the most menacing characters that Hollywood has ever seen. Whenever I hear the name Rickman, it’s absolutely impossible to think or picture anyone else but Hans Gruber, the evil mastermind behind the attack on the Nakatomi Plaza in the original Die Hard.

Of course, his huge list of credits go far beyond the films that I’m familiar with, but for younger generations (and likely many adults too), Rickman was the very best Severus Snape that anyone could have imagined.

It’s certainly been a sombre week for pop culture fans everywhere. Mr. Rickman, you will be missed.

TheGuardian has a fantastic write-up profiling the celebrated actor’s career. I’d implore you to give it a read.