Today comes word that actor Alan Rickman died.  The name is probably familiar to most people who follow movies and, in particular, the Harry Potter films…

Like many others my age, I first experienced Alan Rickman’s dry, superb acting style with his role as the villainous Hans Gruber in the original Die Hard…

It’s been said that a great action/adventure movie relies not only on a charismatic, rootable hero but also a great villain.  The best of the James Bond films featured fearsome villains to match wits with our intrepid hero and in the case of the original Die Hard, Bruce Willis’ Officer John McClaine (a great hero) was more than equally matched with Mr. Rickman’s Hans Gruber.  Kudos to the movie’s screenwriters to figure out a way for the villain and hero actually meet within the film.  They did so rather smoothly even though the likelihood these two characters would bump into each other seemed really far-fetched.

Mr. Rickman was also hilarious in the Star Trek inspired comedy Galaxy Quest.

You can read more about Mr. Rickman’s passing here…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alan-rickman-dead_56979645e4b0b4eb759d434a?

It was reported he died of cancer and was 69 years old.

Rest in peace, Mr. Rickman.