I was just about to post this.
He was a quite brilliant actor.
Outside of treading the boards, he established himself as one of our greatest movie actors of all time too.
"Truly, Madly, Deeply", is one of my all time favourite movies. His performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham, made Kevin Costner look like a drama student, opposite. I remember it making me cringe, the difference in talent.
And his voice... oh what a voice...
R.I.P. Alan Rickman.
All the headlines I see list him as being from "Potter", which I have never seen nor read. Saw the face, & my first thought was "Dogma". Looked him up on IMDB, & I remember that "Pretty Women" from "Sweeney" in my head in his voice. (I remember a ton of lyrics, but rarely the voices.)
What a wonderful actor. He could display so much without uttering a word as in "Sense and Sensibility". And then there were performances like the one Nicola mentioned in "Robin Hood". No one could sneer better.
And that voice! I read in The Guardian that Lindsay Duncan, who starred with him in Les Liaisons Dangereuses on stage and for which he was nominated for a Tony, said of her co-star’s sonorous performance that audiences would leave the theatre wanting to have sex “and preferably with Alan Rickman”. She was right about its impact. It certainly worked for me.
If you have not seen it, he and Emma Thompson play former lovers meeting in "The Song of Lunch". He also narrates the story. It is Rickman at his sardonic best.
A truly wonderful actor. I was lucky enough to see him on stage in 1985 at The Other Place in Stratford upon Avon in Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Les Liaisons DangereusesDangeereuses with Lindsay Duncan as the Marquise de Merteuil, and Juliet Stevenson as Madame de Tourvel.
What a loss!!! (GUTTED!!!)
My favourite role of his is in the oft-derided 'Love Actually' where he plays a married man contemplating an affair. He, (and Emma Thompson) are the best things about that movie...)
Met him just once, on the street. I was with my seven year old nephew. He stopped, chatted, did an impression of Severus Snape for my AMAZED nephew and signed an autograph.
Top thesbian.
xx SF
If anyone is on speaking-terms with GOD can they ask him to SLOW DOWN on the people we love dying for a fucking while...
He was a rarity in modern Hollywood: an actor who actually knew how to act. Brilliant performer and, as others have said, a magnificent voice. I've only seen him on screen but I envy those like KnightofLove who got to see him on stage.
Just watched "Love Actually" for Christmas, and love "Galaxy Quest"
I was just a kid when I first saw him in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, and his performance was simply delightful. I've loved him in every role, especially Snively Snape. His voice and delivery... incomparable!
"You have your Mother's eyes" in Harry Potter made tears well up. And I flat out weep whenever I see Truly Madly Deeply. What a great actor.
He was the only good thing in that Robin Hood movie, and in Love Actually too (yeah I know everyone loves that movie).
And every Christmas, I imitate him in Diehard--"Now I have a machine gun. Ho. Ho. Ho."--until my kids are sick of it. But the angry deadpan of his delivery of that line is so perfect.
There is a Australian western called Quigley Down Under that I haven't hear anyone mention, but he is quite good in that too.
Of all our inventions for mass communication, 
