Thursday 14 January 2016 07.34 EST Last modified on Thursday 14 January 2016 11.09 EST  Alan Rickman in 1992, the year which saw him star in political satire Bob Roberts opposite Tim Robbins.  Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman at the premiere of A Little Chaos in 2015. Rickman directed and starred in the comedy which had Winslet as a landscape gardener.  ‘Somebody said it’s like going to war – making a film. This one has huge set pieces in it and every day was a challenge. You just had to be ready for them. I had incredibly skilful people to work with. … Rickman on A Little Chaos.  In 2013, Rickman starred as real-life club owner Hilly Krystal in the music drama CBGB.  In 2010, Rickman voiced the Caterpillar in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and will also feature in this year’s sequel.  ‘I think the last thing you ever do is put labels on a character you’re playing. You don’t judge them yourself. It’s all information’ … Rickman on his performance in 2008’s Bottle Shock.  ‘People in general adore Snape. He is sarcastic, stubborn, etc, etc. But he is also fascinating. I have a lot of fun impersonating him’ … Rickman on his role in the Harry Potter series.  ‘You’re like a sponge as an actor. You just pick up what’s wanted, what the tone is you’re aiming for’ … Rickman on working with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  In 2003’s Love Actually, Rickman reunited with two of his Sense and Sensibility co-stars: Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson.  ‘People didn’t get it when it first came out. It is genuinely funny, however. Extremely funny. A truly great piece of writing’ … Rickman on 1999’s sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest.  In 1998, Rickman starred alongside Helen Mirren in Anthony and Cleopatra on stage, and the pair reunite in this year’s tense thriller Eye in the Sky.  Photograph: John Stillwell/PA Archive/PA Photos  ‘She’s glorious to work with. She’s got a mind, a heart, a soul and a sense of humour’ ... Rickman on working with Kate Winslet.  The 1991 drama Close My Eyes has Rickman shoot his ‘first actual sex scene’ as he played a man in a love triangle.  ‘You can’t forget the fact that on the first day, he gathered us actors and crew together and said alright everybody, I have one word, and that is ‘help’.And I know what he means. If you’re not aware of it as an actor, you certainly are as a director’ … Rickman on working with first-time director Anthony Minghella for Truly, Madly, Deeply.  ‘Because it’s a real person, you become very protective and you want to be fair to them because they have relatives’ … Rickman on his role in Michael Collins.  Rickman turned down the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves before being told he could make the character more of his own.  Producer Joel Silver and director John McTiernan went to see Rickman onstage in Les Liaisons Dangereuse and knew immediately he would be perfect as Hans Gruber in Die Hard.  The Guardian review of Les Liaisons Dangereuse (1986) said that Rickman ‘slips sly and inscrutable through the action like a cat who knows the way to the cream’.  Rickman starred alongside Donald Pleasance, Nigel Hawthorne and Geraldine McEwan in the BBC TV serial The Barchester Chronicles.  Alan Rickman with his partner Rima Horton at the Australian premiere of A Little Chaos in 2015.  ‘I do take my work seriously and the way to do that is not to take yourself too seriously’ ... Rickman pictured last year in New York
Veteran actor Alan Rickman, best known for roles on stage and in films such as Die Hard and the Harry Potter franchise, has died aged 69. We look back over his life and career in photographs