Alan Rickman: A life in pictures

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Actor Alan Rickman, known for films including Harry Potter, Die Hard, Truly Madly Deeply and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, has died at the age of 69. A family statement said: "He was surrounded by family and friends."

Here, we present pictures of him in some of his best known roles.

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Alan Rickman began his film career as Tybalt in a BBC adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in 1978.

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In 1982, Rickman appeared in another BBC dramatisation, The Barchester Chronicles, as Obadiah Slope, alongside Janet Maw. The cast also included Donald Pleasence, Nigel Hawthorne and Susan Hampshire.

Image source, Alamy
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More television appearances followed - but, in 1988, he shot to fame as the villain in Die Hard. His portrayal of Hans Gruber opposite Bruce Willis' first appearance as New York cop John McClane was a role he would never shake off, and he became seen as the perfect actor to portray the screen villain.

Image source, Alamy
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He showed his gentler side in films such as 1990s Truly Madly Deeply, when he starred as a ghost, alongside Juliet Stevenson playing a woman mourning the loss of her partner. He was nominated for a Bafta.

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A year later, though, he was back in the role of the villain, as the Sherriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, for which he won a Bafta. He is seen here with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio who played Maid Marian, with his main adversary, Robin Hood, played by Kevin Costner.

Image source, Alamy
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He starred with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet (not pictured) in the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility.

Image source, Alamy
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In 1996 he won a Golden Globe for best actor in a miniseries or television film for the title role in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny in which he starred with Greta Scacchi.

Image source, John Stillwell / PA
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The London-born actor began his career in theatre and was a regular on the stage, seen here with Helen Mirren during a photo-call rehearsal for Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre on London's South Bank.

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He took to the stars in Galaxy Quest, in 1999, alongside Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver.

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But it was his role as Prof Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films that made him one of Britain's best-loved actors and brought him to the attention of another generation of filmgoers.

Image source, Phil Coomes / BBC
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Alan Rickman, 1946 - 2016