LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Alan Rickman: Dramatic Art
built 658 days ago
Rickman was born in Hammersmith, London to a working-class family. Rickman attended the Chelsea College of Art and made his way as a graphic artist in Soho. He received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) which he attended from 1972 – 1974. While there, he won the Emile Littler Prize, the Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Medal. Since then, he has been a constant presence on the British stage. A speech defect and an unusual tightness of his jaw have been credited with giving him his unique voice and line delivery.
Source:
Rickman was born in Hammersmith, London to a working-class family. His father, Bernard Rickman, was an Irish Catholic factory worker, and his mother, Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett), was a Methodist Welsh homemaker.[1][2] His father died when Rickman was eight, leaving his mother to raise their four children mostly alone. She married again, but divorced his stepfather after three years. "There was one love in her life".[2] After graduating from Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith, Rickman attended Chelsea College of Art and made his way as a graphic artist in Soho. He received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) which he attended from 1972–1974. While there, he won the
Source:
After starting out as a graphic designer Alan Rickman decided, age 26, to change career and study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). Television and stage work followed and he won widespread acclaim for originating the role of the suave, but ruthless, Viscount de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
Source:
Born in a poor part of London, Rickman lost his father at age 8, and won a scholarship to a good London school. Acting wasn't what he set out to do -- after school, Rickman headed for art college. And he's always had an interest in politics -- he's known in Britain as a staunch Labor supporter. In his mid- 20s, Rickman applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He got in, but it wasn't until he was 42 that his work was noticed in a production of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" in Stratford-on-Avon.
Source:
Rickman lives in a maisonette in Westbourne Grove, not far from his mother's council house. He met his first serious girlfriend, Rima Horton, in 1965, when they were both students at the Chelsea School of Art. They are still together.
Source:
Rickman has ... been featured in several musical works—most notably in a song composed by the English songwriter Adam Leonard. Moreover, the actor played a "Master of Ceremonies" part in announcing the various instruments in Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II on the track The Bell. Rickman was one of the many artists who recited Shakespearian sonnets on the 2002-released When Love Speaks CD, and is also featured prominently in a music-video by the band Texas entitled In Demand, which premiered on Europe MTV in August 2000. In the video, Sharleen Spiteri (the lead singer of Texas) danced the tango with Rickman: the clip was nominated for Best British Video at the Brit Awards. Spiteri said about the choice of Rickman for the clip ; "I thought it had to be someone who would be believable, who would rip your coat off and pull you into the tango, so I thought Alan Rickman!"
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Dramatic Art