Alan Rickman Of Harry Potter Fame Dies Following Cancer Battle

Alan Rickman, the acclaimed British actor who played Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films, has died. He was 69.

Several actors and theatre artists who performed with Rickman expressed sorrow and shock over his death. Guardian reported that the actor was battling cancer. Besides his role as Snape, Rickman played villain Hans Gruber in Die Hard. He won an Emmy in 1996 and a Golden Globe in 1997 for portraying Rasputin in a miniseries.

Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who played the teenage wizard Harry Potter in the fictional series, described Rickman as one of the greatest actors he worked with.

"He is also, one of the loyalest and most supportive people I've ever met in the film industry. He was so encouraging of me both on set and in the years post-Potter," Radcliffe wrote.

"People create perceptions of actors based on the parts they played so it might surprise some people to learn that contrary to some of the sterner(or downright scary) characters he played, Alan was extremely kind, generous, self-deprecating and funny," Radcliff said in reference to the character of cold and sarcastic professor Rickman portrayed in the Harry Potter films, E! Online reported.

In her tribute to Rickman, one his close friends and co-actor Emma Thompson described his death as painful.

"What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humor, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. The intransigence which made him the great artist he was - his ineffable and cynical wit, the clarity with which he saw most things, including me, and the fact that he never spared me the view," Thompson wrote, according to People.