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Jan 14, 2016 By Christopher Roberts

British actor and director Alan Rickman has died. The 69-year-old had been suffering from cancer. Rickman got his start as a stage actor but came to the attention of worldwide audiences in his star-making turn as the villainous Hans Gruber in Die Hard, which is still considered one of the greatest action films of all time and one of Rickman's most famous role. Rickman almost turned down the part, because the serious actor didn't want to appear in an action movie, but friends convinced him otherwise. Rickman's other most iconic role was as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, a complex character whose motivations and allegiances are often questioned.

Other notable Rickman films include Love Actually, Truly Madly Deeply, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (he played the Sheriff of Nottingham opposite Kevin Costner's Robin Hood), Sense and Sensibility, Bob Roberts, Quigley Down Under, Dogma, Galaxy Quest, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (as the voice of the depressed robot Marvin), among many others. He also directed two films: 1997's The Winter Guest (starring Emma Thompson) and 2014's A Little Chaos (starring Kate Winslet). To paraphrase Bruce Willis' John McClane, Happy Trails Alan.