--- title: Alan Rickman: Things You Never Knew description: Alan Rickman died at age 69. Fun facts about the British actor you might not know. canonical: https://time.com/4180478/alan-rickman-dead-facts/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-14T16:40:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:43.697Z og:title: 6 Things You Never Knew About Alan Rickman og:description: He got off to a rough start while filming his first scene for 'Die Hard' og:url: https://time.com/4180478/alan-rickman-dead-facts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46d1324359d7814a/6988792a428a9e782acd0f56/gettyimages-477790262.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Apple Store Soho: Meet the Filmmaker: Alan Rickman, "A Little Chaos" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 6 Things You Never Knew About Alan Rickman twitter:description: He got off to a rough start while filming his first scene for 'Die Hard' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46d1324359d7814a/6988792a428a9e782acd0f56/gettyimages-477790262.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 6 Things You Never Knew About Alan Rickman > Sponsored content. 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Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jan 14, 2016 4:40 PM UTC In light of the death of Golden Globe winning-actor [Alan Rickman](http://time.com/4180354/alan-rickman-dead/) at age 69, we’ve rounded up some fascinating tidbits you might not have known about the man known for playing two of cinema’s best villains: Hans Gruber in [_Die Hard_](http://time.com/4180396/alan-rickman-a-career-in-pictures/) and Hogwarts professor Severus Snape in the [_Harry Potter_](http://time.com/4180432/alan-rickman-death-harry-potter-cast-reactions/)films. **He was a graphic designer.** Rickman studied graphic design at the Royal College of Art (RCA) between 1968-69 in London and opened a studio in SoHo, where he helped design book jackets, album sleeves, ads, in addition to layouts and illustrations for magazines. “A constant financial tightrope,” as he [described](http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=38680) the experience to _The Design Observer Group_, a publication about the trade. “It came to a natural finish when I started to work in fringe theater and then went to RADA” (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art). **He injured himself during the first scene he shot for** **_Die Hard._** He hurt his knee during the first scene he shot with Bruce Willis for the role that launched his film career. “I thought I had ripped a ligament on the very first shot. Turned out I’d torn a cartilage, but I knew enough to go downstairs and see the doctor,” he told [_Empire_ magazine](http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/alan-rickman-interview/). “I hadn’t even shot a scene! I was still in my costume, and I said, ‘Could you pull the trouser leg down over that splint thing?’ I went back up to the 33rd floor and carried on shooting.” **He pranked Daniel Radcliffe on the set of** **_Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban._** “There’s a shot in the great hall of all the kids sleeping in the great hall, and the camera starts very very wide, and comes in so that it’s an inch from my face,” Radcliffe wrote in an “[Ask Me Anything](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2khgud/i%5Fam%5Fdaniel%5Fradcliffe%5Fama)” for Reddit. “Alan Rickman decided he would plant one of those fart machines in my, uh, sleeping bag, and they waited until like – the camera had come in for this huge DRAMATIC developing shot, and then unleashed this tremendous noise in the great hall.” **He said he “never” watches himself on screen.** “I think you start to edit yourself,” he told[_Empire_](http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/alan-rickman-interview/). **He said the Australian outback is the most beautiful place he has ever visited.** “It’s a natural Versailles sitting in the desert,” he told the [YouTube channel ODE](https://www.youtube.com/user/itn/about). **He loved birds.** “I’m fascinated watching a flock of birds,” he told astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in a 2012 interview on the show _StarTalk_. “What going on there? How do they know they’re with more of them anyway?” ### Alan Rickman: A Career in Pictures  Die Hard, 1988. 20th Century Fox  Truly, Madly, Deeply, 1990. BBC Films  Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, 1991. Warner Bros.  Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny, 1996. Getty Images  Dogma, 1999. Lionsgate  Galaxy Quest, 1999. DreamWorks Pictures  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 2001. Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images  Love Actually, 2003. Universal Pictures  Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 2007. DreamWorks Pictures  The Butler, 2013. 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