RIP Alan Rickman

The way most of us were introduced to Mr. Rickman. 
1946 - 2016

When I heard David Bowie died, I was sad.  I never knew a time when I hadn't heard of David Bowie, Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust.  And yet when he passed, I was sad as one normally is to hear that someone they had heard about has died.

But I saw that Alan Rickman died, same age and reason BTW, and for some reason, I'm just bummed.  Until I was in college - until Die Hard to be precise - I had never heard of Rickman.  True, like most people who watched Die Hard, I was blown away by his diaboilically swave Hans Gruber to WIllis's boorish and bombastic John McClane.  

Over the years we would see him pop up, notably as the one bright and shining moment in Kevin Costner's otherwise excruciatingly bad version of Robin Hood.  But for most my boys' age, he will fover be Severus Snape.  Perhaps it's because the whole Harry Potter era brings back fond memories to me when my boys were all starry-eyed over Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the whole fantasy world that was spinning around them in those crazy, hazy days of their youth. 

I don't know.  But I'm more than sad.  I'm bummed by his passing.  He left us with some awesome villains, anti-heroes and even hopless romantics.  As the article says, truly a one-off actor of his time. As an example of that something that seemed to endear him to many, here is a letter he wrote to Harry Potter fans at the close of filming the final installment.   RIP Mr. Rickman and God bless and keep you and your loved ones.