Alan Rickman died today.
That may not mean anything to you, but I promise you, millions of women around the world felt their hearts break a little, tiny bit with the news. Millions of women who over the years willingly and easily forfeited a small piece of their hearts and fell in love, just a little, with Alan Rickman. I know, because I was one of them.
Men surely must think to themselves: “Who? The baddie from Die Hard? Him? The guy who told his henchmen to shoot the windows? Why on Earth?”
They are right, to a degree. Alan Rickman was a strange choice of a crush, an odd man to get sweaty and swoon-y about. He wasn’t the best looking or the most muscular; he could even be a little pasty at times, a little doughy round the middle. His nose was beakish and his eyes were squinty. Yet I promise you I am far from the only gal who swooned every time his name was mentioned. On more than one occasion I witnessed a virtual smack-down on a mommy board about who loved him more. On more than one occasion I have referred to him as my Hollywood boyfriend.
He remains an unlikely sex symbol. He wasn’t the most obvious choice for heart flutters and butterflies. But oh, that voice. That smooth, honey drip of a voice that sinewed and slid into your eardrums and snaked its way straight to your heart and turned it into a mushy mess. Or maybe it was just me.
My husband, knowing how much I adored him, used to walk around saying “Shoot.the. windows.” in a fairly decent impersonation of that syrup drawl. Today when he called to tell me the news of his death, I told him the phrase was hovering in a no-fly zone.
“Too soon?” he asked.
“Too soon,” I said.
Most of us loved the man Rickman because we loved the men he played on-screen. And we loved the men he played on-screen because hidden in those men are the men we all long to fall in love with. Often there was more than a little bit of the men we did fall in love with. He was Everyman, yet just an every man, and that’s exactly what was so endearing about him. He was nothing special, and yet so very special. From Colonel Brandon to Severus Snape there was always a humming undercurrent of longing which electrified those men and elevated them from two-dimensional characters to men you wanted to bring home; to your mother, to your bed. On some level, most of us yearn for someone to pine for us the way Colonel Brandon pines for Marianne Dashwood, someone who will wait for us, who will forgive us our imperfections, who will indeed, revel in them.
That is what so many women found attractive and sexy. That is what women swooned over.
Even in his most hated moments, when his callous, selfish, dick-ish behavior caused Emma Thompson to hold back tears in Love Actually you couldn’t help but think to yourself this is a man I could marry; perhaps even a little this is the man I did marry. A man deep enough to sink your teeth into, a man who would allow his ghost self to fade quietly into the afterlife just so you could find love again; a man who would watch from afar, just to make sure you’re happy.
That’s why women loved him, because he played so well the men we all want to love, who we want to love us back. Yes, even the prick he played in Love Actually.
They were characters of course, but Alan Rickman was the man who brought those characters to life–he brought them into our living rooms and movie theaters and in so many cases, our mushy hearts. He made us love them, all those perfect imperfect men. And in doing so, made us love him.
So excuse me while I stitch back up the little hole in my heart.
Wine and Cheese (Doodles) 
Whenever someone famous to whom I felt a small connection dies pre age 70, it hits me uncomfortably. It’s all well and good to plan and believe, “well of course I’ll live to 80, modern medical science and all that” but often it just does not happen. There is old phrase that I heard Robert Redford quote – Extract The Blood From Every Moment.
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The older I get, the younger 70 seems. It’s a good quote (and would make a good title) and is very true. I had a rather large crush on Alan Rickman. Following so closely on the heels of David Bowie, both deaths which completely blindsided me, my world just feel a little sadder this week.
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Lost another good one.
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If Harrison Ford dies this year, I’m done for. Just saying.
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Oh no! Don’t even…
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Thought he nailed it in Die Hard – Ultimate cool baddie. RIP Mr. Rickman.
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He did (and I’m pretty sure that was his first movie role). I think men loved his villains and women loved his unrequited lovers.
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Reblogged this on The Crazy Nigerian and commented:
I couldn’t have written this better myself. This post comes highly recommended. RIP Mr. Rickman – Best Baddie Ever (Die Hard)
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I think one of my favorite things about him is that his acting was so very understated and subtle, yet so very powerful. He was able to use his voice and his mature acting skills to create a characters that moved me deeply every time.
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Exactly. And you just wanted to be near him, even if he was playing a villain. And he genuinely came across as a nice person, which by all accounts of those who knew him, he was.
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Damn it Dina,you always nail it….Carry On….
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Thank you. Perhaps a career in obituaries is in my future, though seriously, my heart can’t stand any more iconic deaths this week, month, year.
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‘Humming undercurrent of longing..’ That’s what I was trying to explain to my 7 year old tonight when she wanted to know why I loved Professor Snape.
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It’s there in all his roles, I think. At least the ones I love so much.
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I fell in love with him when I saw Truly, Madly. That voice! And my love remained through all the years and movies. I was my dream to watch him on stage.
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For me it was Colonel Brandon. Seeing him on stage would have been amazing because it would have been a totally different dimension,unfettered by the confines of film.
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I even loved him more as Severus Snape…. So sad today
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He was the perfect Snape. Everything he did, he did for that unrequited love and you could feel it in the way he portrayed the character. He made him believable and almost lovable because he made him make sense.
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You really need to watch Truly, Madly, Deeply. You will be a massive puddle.
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I have. And I was. As I will be again. 😦
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Yes, if I were further over on the Kinsey scale he’d be the man for me, by his voice, that sounded a bit like caramel. Love the guy, a real loss. They seem to come in 3’s….I recall that may have happened with Burroughs, Ginsberg and Bukowski, though my memory can’t be trusted.
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I actually cried a little like a teenage girl who found out her crush asked out her best friend yesterday when I heard the news. Though I loved him as Snape, it wasn’t my favorite role of his. Yet the Potterhead tribute pictures of the wands held aloft is just about enough to do me in. I can’t even think about watching the serenade scene in Truly, Madly, Deeply. Too soon. It’s bizarre how certain deaths affect us so strongly, isn’t it? I shed a silent tear when Gabriel Garcia Marquez passed away a few years ago. I know I shall cry when Margaret Atwood does. This one hit me harder than Bowie which I was able to feel more as an observer. This one really did made the little hole in my heart hurt a bit. But I was absolutely blindsided by both. I’m not sure how much more my heart can stand this year.
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My wife Dawn would be with you on the GG Marquez thing too. It’s good to feel and love, amen to that sister.
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You say so clearly what I have not been able to articulate for myself.
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I’m glad. I always liked to think of myself as being smarter than the average woman for finding him so appealing, but it turns out, I was only one of millions of smart women. I only hope that I can leave off the death tributes for a while now, so fingers crossed none of my unsung heroes die in the next few months.
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Thank you. Ithink you have articulated what I have been trying to explain. I think “my” Alan Rickman is from Truly Madly Deeply….but I wouldn’t have fought off the Sheriff of Nottingham.
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You can imagine my shock when I realized so very many others considered him ‘theirs’. That was a wonderful character, no? He had a real capacity to bring humanness and humanity into his characters, so much so that I think you could watch him and see yourself or the man you love/loved in there, all of which made him appealing. And then there was that voice….
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