British actor Alan Rickman, who played Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films, has died at the age of 69.
Rickman, who also played the wonderful villain, Hans Gruber, in Die Hard, had been battling cancer.
“The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends,” family said in a statement.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling took to Twitter to mourn the loss.
“There are no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman’s death. He was a magnificent actor & a wonderful man,” she wrote.
“My thoughts are with Rima and the rest of Alan’s family. We have all lost a great talent. They have lost part of their hearts.”
Rickman trained for his craft at Britain’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
His rich voice meant that he was often cast as the devilish villain, but he was equally excellent in Truly, Madly, Deeply and in Love Actually, where he played the disloyal husband, opposite Emma Thompson.
Rickman married his partner of 50 years, Rima Horton, only recently. The couple met when they were teenagers and had been together since the 1970s. She is an economics professor.
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