Alan Rickman could make a slowly delivered line threatening, funny or sad. We value him most when he lets that familiar voice settle into something quieter: the patient attention of Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility.
Fi1m perspective
In Sense and Sensibility (1995), Alan Rickman's Colonel Christopher Brandon makes listening worth watching. Beside Kate Winslet's impatient, emotionally direct Marianne Dashwood, he gives reserve enough weight to keep the quieter man from disappearing. We were moved by how seriously he listens to Marianne; her feelings matter even when he is saying little. Rickman does not need to compete with her expressiveness to hold our attention. Ang Lee's casting allows both kinds of person to be taken seriously.
His first film role, Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988), made a different use of that measured delivery. The deep voice and unhurried timing could make a threat sound considered, with dry humour making it no more reassuring. The Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) gave him a more openly comic villain. Truly Madly Deeply (1991) had already offered a romantic part, Jamie, so Brandon was no sudden discovery of gentleness. The quieter work belonged alongside the villains from early on, even if the villains were easier to remember.
The danger with so recognisable a delivery is that we start waiting for the voice rather than watching the character. The early villain roles threatened to become a restriction, and by the mid-1990s Rickman had tired of them. Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series (2001–2011) gave him a character to develop across eight films, though that long association should not obscure the other work.
The useful comparison in Sense and Sensibility is with Hugh Grant's Edward Ferrars. Grant makes reserve a source of comic discomfort, while Rickman lets it suggest feelings Brandon has difficulty showing. Emma Thompson and Winslet remain the chief reasons we recommend Lee's film, whose comfortable-looking setting sometimes softens the characters' difficulties. Rickman's contribution is smaller, but the care with which he distinguishes Brandon's quietness from Edward's awkwardness matters. Go for Thompson and Winslet, but leave some attention for the man listening.
Biography
Alan Rickman (1946–2016) was an English actor and director. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he played the Vicomte de Valmont in the 1985 stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses; the role earned him a Tony Award nomination when the production transferred to Broadway.
Rickman made his film debut as Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988). He received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). Other notable film roles include Jamie in Truly Madly Deeply (1991) and Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (1995). He is also known for portraying Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011).
