Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born 21 February 1946) is a Tony Award- nominated English film, television and stage actor. He has won the Emmy, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and is perhaps best known to film audiences for his roles as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films. He also featured prominently as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 blockbuster, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. More recently, Rickman portrayed Judge Turpin in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a role that brought forth predictions of his first Oscar nomination (although he was not nominated).
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