“I have a photograph at home of Fred Astaire from the knees down with his feet crossed. It's kind of inspiring because it reminds me his feet were bleeding at the end of rehearsals. Yet when you watch him, all you see is freedom. It's a reminder of what the job is about in general, not just being in musicals.”

English actor

Alan Rickman was an English actor, born in 1946 and died in 2016. He was known for stage and screen performances, and for a deep, measured voice that made him instantly recognisable. He earned a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and an Actor Award, and he was also nominated for two Tony Awards and a Laurence Olivier Award. In 2009, The Guardian named him among the best actors never to receive an Academy Award nomination. He died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 69.