Olivier, Sir Laurence 31, 47, 217, 254, 272, 273
Olivier Theatre, London 249, 250
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest 202
One World Action 137, 254
Ooms, Amanda 204, 207, 208
Open Space Theatre 170
Orton, Nigel 38, 44
Osborne, John 53
Othello (Shakespeare) 107, 113
Other Worlds (Holman) 76, 93–6
O’Toole, Peter 22, 252
Out Of Joint 80, 157
Owen, Clive 150–1
Owen, Michael 168, 170, 178, 188, 197, 224, 280
Oxford Playhouse 79
Oz 49
Pacino, Al 59
Pagett, Nicola 220
Paige, Elaine 279
Paine, Thomas 21
Rights of Man, The 21
Paterson, Bill 145
Patrick, Tony 163
Patten, Brian 50
Paxman, Jeremy 91
Pearson, Allison 15, 142
Pearson, Neil 187
Peer Gynt (Ibsen) 155
Peggy Ashcroft Theatre, Guildford 254
People 139
Peter, John 167
Peter Pan (Barrie) 216, 218
Peterborough column 158–9
Phantom of the Opera 26
Phillips, Leslie 97
Phoenix Theatre, Leicester 56
Piccadilly Theatre, London 22, 154
Pinter, Harold 152
Pitt, Brad 260
Plater, Alan 80–1, 84
Plath, Sylvia 88–9, 277
Play 257
Players of Shakespeare 105
Pleasence, Donald 6, 81
Pogson, Kathryn 187
Poliakoff, Stephen
on AR 2, 5, 14, 15, 69, 87, 104, 106–7, 112, 139, 149–50, 224, 227, 272
and The Summer Party 73–4
see also Close My Eyes; Sweet Panic
Pollack, Sydney 225
Portillo, Michael 258, 259
Portrait of Scythrop 39
Potter, Beatrix 229
Potter, Dennis 153, 193, 196–212, 281
Powell, Jeff 139, 275
Powell, Jonathan 69–70, 72, 80–1, 233
Preacher, The (Barnes) 129–31
Prebble, John 31
Premiere 125
Pride and Prejudice 70
Prime Suspect 250
Private Lives (Coward) 1, 3, 79, 251, 253, 260–2, 265, 268
Pruce, Peter 237, 238
Pryce, Jonathan 214–15
Punch 116
Quigley Down Under 134–6, 140
Quilley, Denis 91
RADA 48, 51, 53, 75, 137, 247, 275
Rains, Claude 117, 120, 138, 277, 282
Ramsay, Peggy 113–14
Rasputin 1, 17, 233, 236–42, 243, 272, 280
Rasputin, Grigori 236–9
Rasputin, Maria 239, 241
Ratcliffe, Michael 101, 104, 105, 117
Rathbone, Basil 120, 138, 142
Raw Produce 158
Ray, John 41
Recruiting Officer, The (Farquhar) 80
Redbrick 61
Redgrave, Corin 12, 40, 177
Redgrave, Vanessa 12, 170, 177, 258
Reedus, Norman 246
Reeves, Saskia 150–2, 279
Reid, Mrs 29–30
Renaissance Theatre Company 169
Return Journey (Thomas) 40
Revolutionary Witness (Barnes) 129
Reynolds, Kevin 139, 143
Reynolds, Lance 199, 200–2
Rich, Frank 110
Richard III (Shakespeare) 53
Richardson, Natasha 256
Richardson, Sir Ralph 21, 217
Rickman, Alan Patrick
birth 21
family background 10, 21, 22–3
at Montessori School 28–9
at Latymer Upper School 12, 25, 30–2, 33–44, 51
at Chelsea College of Art 44
in amateur dramatic groups 46–7
at Royal College of Art 49
at Graphiti 50
at RADA 48, 51–5
appearance 1, 2, 9, 11–12, 14, 15, 224, 227, 238
artistic talent 22–3
as ASM 55
awards 212, 238, 243, 245, 280
as director 93–4, 221–4, 244–5, 265
as dresser 53
essay on playing Jaques 105–6, 279
on himself 274–6
joins Labour Party 111
Masterclass 253, 259–60
and mother 23–8, 243–4
personality 2, 4–5, 9, 11–12, 13–15, 19–20, 55–6, 57, 58–9, 78, 81, 281
politics 1, 2, 6, 10, 12, 42–3, 78–9, 85, 144, 160, 168, 258–9, 271, 278
at RADA 53–5
roles rejected 215–19
at RSC 6, 62–8, 69, 73, 103
sexual charisma 2, 4, 6–7, 9–10, 17, 19, 83, 88, 90, 100
see also Horton, Rima, relationship with AR
Rickman, Bernard (AR’s father) 21, 22, 23–4, 168
Rickman, David Bernard John (AR’s brother) 10, 21, 22–3, 26, 44
Rickman, Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett, AR’s mother) 10, 21, 22, 23–8, 168, 243–4, 245
Rickman, Michael Keith (AR’s brother) 10, 14, 22–3, 26
Rickman, Sheila (AR’s sister) 22, 23, 46 daughters 46
Rickman, Thomas (‘Clio’) 21–2
Life of Paine, The 21
Riese, Mark 189
Rights Now 159
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith 5, 54, 95, 98, 157–8, 169–70, 173–93, 214, 221, 271, 281
Robbins, Tim 164, 276
Robin Hood 142
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 1, 16–17, 19, 37, 53, 89, 131, 137–43, 149, 158, 204, 257, 260, 277–9
Rodgers, Anton 187
Rogers, Sir Richard 177
Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare) 48, 57, 69, 199
Ronnie Scott’s Club 49
Rose, Charlie 3
Roundhouse, London 169, 170, 191
Rowling, J.K. 119, 268
Royal College of Art 49
Royal Court Theatre, London 77, 79, 98–100, 107, 157, 253
Royal Opera House 183
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) 214, 246–8, 260, 281
AR joins 6
AR leaves 69, 73
AR rejoins 103
Christmas party 25
and Les Liaisons Dangereuses 2, 16, 105–10, 113–18
‘nuns’ at 144
at Roundhouse 170
Royal Society of Medicine 207
Ruling Class, The (Barnes) 22, 26, 58, 131
Russell, Barry 115
Russell, Ken 211
Ryall, David 147
Rylance, Mark 176
Sachs, Leonard 39, 40
Sachs, Robin 39
St Joan (Shaw) 55, 56, 220
St Vincent’s School, London 29–30
Salberg, Jane 99
San Giacomo, Laura 135
Sanders, George 120, 277
Sarandon, Susan 133, 164
Sarasota Film Festival 255
Sartre, Jean-Paul 7
Saturday Review 103–4, 104
Saunders, Jennifer 93
Savage, Peter 186–7
Scacchi, Greta 236, 239
Scales, Prunella 187, 220
Schlesinger, John 201
Schoenfeld, Gerald 110
Schubert Organisation 110, 114
Schulz-Keil, Wieland 201–2
Scofield, Paul 272
Scorer, Ian 198–9
Scott, Sir Nicholas 159, 161, 162, 163–4, 258
Scott, Victoria 159
Scott-Thomas, Kristin 257
Seagull, The (Chekhov) 72, 77, 79–80, 93, 107, 108
Search for John Gissing, The 255–6
Sebastian, Tim 23, 259, 269
Segal, Philip 233
Sekacz, Ilona 191
Selleck, Tom 134–5
Sense and Sensibilit
y 16, 156, 216, 218, 224, 225, 226–31, 234, 246
Sense and Sensibility: Behind the Scenes 229
Sense & Sensibility: The Diaries 228–30
Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance (Arden) 39
Sexy Beast 87
Sharp, Jane 36
Sharp, Miriam (‘Mim’) 36, 48
Sharp, Wilf 33, 36, 48
Shaw, Fiona 65, 113, 144, 176, 177
Shawshank Redemption, The 224–5
Sher, Antony 85, 107, 175
Shimuzu, Kunio 152
Shirras, James 198, 199, 201, 202, 204
Shorter, Eric 97, 105, 116
Shulman, Milton 68, 97, 98
Silence of the Lambs 215, 272, 276
Silver, Joel 120
Sinn Fein 231
Six Characters In Search Of An Author (Pirandello) 155
Small, Christopher 61
Smiley’s People 70, 72–3, 80
Smith, Bessie 75–6
Smith, Kevin 246, 248, 256
Smith, Maggie 266
Smith, Mel 30, 35, 41, 42, 43–4, 48, 218
Spacey, Kevin 276
Spear, Ruskin 33
Spectator 95
Spencer, Charles 115, 163, 166, 178, 222
Spencer, Charlie 96
Spielberg, Steven 17, 233, 266
Spirit of Man, The (Barnes) 89, 131
Spiteri, Sharleen 156
Spottiswoode, Roger 197, 198, 199, 202–4, 205–6
Spurr, Derek 182
Squirrel Nutkin (Potter) 229
Stafford-Clark, Max 79, 80, 87, 91, 100, 157, 173
Stage 250
Stage and Television Today 50, 115
Standing Room Only 268, 269
Stead, Edward (‘Ted’) 33, 34, 36, 39, 40, 47–9, 89, 141, 149, 155, 278
Stein, Peter 179
Steppenwolf 175
Stevenson, Juliet
AR on 5
awards 54, 158
friendship with AR 14, 54, 62, 65, 143–4
plays and films 16, 93, 94, 255, 257
and Riverside proposals 176, 192
at RSC 62, 65, 107, 110, 113, 144, 149–50, 158
in Truly Madly Deeply 138, 143–8
Stone, Laurie 102
Stone, Oliver 217
Stoppard, Tom 22
Story of Christmas, The 29
Strange Days 148
Stratford-upon-Avon
The Other Place 104, 107, 108
Theatre Royal 45, 62–3
Sturua, Robert 165, 166
Suchet, David 61, 64
Sugarman, Sara 90
Summer Party, The (Poliakoff) 73–4
Sunday Express 139, 166, 222
Sunday Mercury 61
Sunday Telegraph 61, 97, 102, 116
Sunday Times 153, 155, 167, 258
Sunset Boulevard (Lloyd Webber) 110, 153
Suzman, Janet 187
Sweet Panic (Poliakoff) 152
Swinton, Tilda 149
Tango At The End Of Winter (Shimuzu/Barnes) 60, 152–6
Tarantino, Quentin 234, 246
Tatler 152
Taylor, Paul 178
Tebbit, Norman 6, 85
Tempest, The (Shakespeare) 48, 62–8, 254
Thatcher, Margaret 6, 85
Théâtre de Complicite 205
Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London 253, 259
Theatre Royal, Stratford East 137, 254
There’s A Girl In My Soup 55
Thérèse Raquin 69–72, 80, 121, 133
Thin Lizzy 60
Third Man, The 206
Thomas, Edward 94, 95
Thomas, Sian 244
Thompson 225
Thompson, Emma 102, 156, 218, 221, 224–8, 230, 243–4, 246, 269
Diaries 228–30
Thompson, Eric 244
Thompson, Sophie 244
Thorneycroft, Anthony 162–3
Time Out 108, 116, 117, 178, 189, 190
Times, The 2, 28, 35, 68, 105, 115, 155, 163, 168, 178, 222, 256
Times magazine, The 274, 275
Tinker, Jack 105, 155, 163, 167, 222
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Le Carré) 72
Topper, Jenny 14, 77, 269, 278, 281
Tribune 95
Trick To Catch An Old One, A (Middleton) 106
Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare) 105
Trollope, Anthony 82
Truly Madly Deeply 16, 73, 138, 139, 143–8, 149–50, 153, 158, 225, 227, 257
Tubular Bells II (Oldfield) 169
Turner, Colin 12, 25, 33–6, 47, 48, 51, 218
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare) 34, 169, 177
2001: A Space Odyssey 94
Ubu Rex (Jarry) 60
Ullman, Tracey 87, 98
Unreel 46
Upstairs Downstairs 70
Vagabonds Act (1572) 37
Valmont 111, 114
Variety 149, 220–1, 238, 246
Venables, Clare 56
Venice Film Festival 245
Vibert, Ronan 154
Victoria Wood with all the Trimmings 260
Vidal, Gore 164
Vienna 206
A View from the Bridge (Miller) 55
Walker, Polly 246
Wallach, Eli 134
Walter, Harriet 14, 15, 79, 98, 99, 102, 127–8, 144, 230–1
Wanamaker, Zoë 267
Warden, The (Trollope) 81
Wardle, Irving 68, 105, 115
Warner, David 240
Warner, Deborah 176, 177
Washbourne, Mona 71
Wax, Ruby
on AR 213
as AR’s protégée 3, 57–8, 93, 162–3
at Bristol Old Vic 60
friendship with AR 14, 16, 19, 57–8, 65, 146, 262
Raw Produce 158
and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 137
at RSC 16, 19, 57–8, 65, 146, 262
on TV 93
Wax Acts 162–3, 221
Way of the World, The (Congreve) 177
Wedekind, Frank 74–5
West Acton First School 28–9, 30
West London Free Press 50
West London Observer 7
West of Suez (Osborne) 53
West, Timothy 91, 187
West Yorkshire Playhouse 5, 62, 177, 221–2
When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout (Macdonald) 77
Whitehouse, Mary 56–7
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Albee) 34, 251
Williams, Clifford 62–5, 281
Williams, Kenneth 92
Willis, Bruce 16, 119, 121–7, 168, 267
Wilson, A.N. 104
Wilson, August 110
Wilson, Patrick (Paddy) 14, 55–6, 252
Wilson, Richard 45, 62, 68, 76, 78, 93, 103, 176, 221, 254, 259
Wilson, Snoo 11, 87, 88, 98, 107, 238, 270, 276–7
Winslet, Kate 226, 229–30
Winstone, Ray 87
Winter Guest, The (film) 243–5, 247
Winter Guest, The (Macdonald) 177, 221–3, 224
Wise, Greg 226, 228, 229, 246
Wollstonecraft, Mary 21
Woman’s Journal 3, 274, 276
Women Against Pit Closures 180
Women’s Playhouse Trust (WPT) 98, 175, 187, 188–9, 190, 192
Wood, Charles 220
Wood, Victoria 57, 253, 260
Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire 268
Woodeson, Nicholas 54
Woodthorpe, Peter 91
Woolrich, Cornell 225
Workers’ Revolutionary Party 12
Worthington, Brian 38
Wright, Jules
on AR 3, 4, 5, 9, 18, 98–101, 134, 247, 279, 280
on Riverside proposals 98, 157, 173–4, 175, 178, 179, 180–5, 187, 188–92, 214
X-Men 269
Yamashta, Stomu 108
Yentob, Alan 176
Young, B.A. 68, 79
Zola, Émile 69
Zulu 136, 141
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
/> In November 1994, I asked Alan Rickman via his agent whether he would be interested in co-operating with a biography to be published in the landmark year of his 50th birthday. In January 1995, Alan wrote me a scrupulously polite refusal in what the denizens of Wayne’s World would call ‘most excellent’ handwriting; the influence of his art-school training is immediately apparent in the calligraphy.
Mal Peachey, my editor at Virgin, was so persuasive, however, that I decided to go ahead with the book. I informed Alan of my intentions, jokily begging him not to reach for the elephant-gun or the smelling-salts. He sent me another handwritten letter: ‘Looking backwards is a strange thing to do – I will do it, but not now. It would take the smelling-salts, the elephant-gun and a large dose of hindsight to change my mind . . .’ Looking back is, indeed, a strange thing to do; but in this case, it has been a fascinating and worthwhile exercise to study this unique actor and director. And when Virgin asked me to update the biography six years after the first edition, the case for a second edition seemed overwhelming in view of Rickman’s output since 1996.
I am particularly indebted to the following people for their help: Peter Barnes, Stephen Davis, Jenny Topper, Thelma Holt, Blanche Marvin, Jonathan Powell, Catherine Bailey, Jules Wright, Jane Hackworth-Young, Stephanie Pennell, Gwenda Hughes, Michael Bogdanov, Clare Venables, Richard Wilson, Howard Davies, Ruby Wax, Christopher Hampton, Maggie Todd, Christopher Biggins, Dusty Hughes, Mike Newell, Peter James, Stephen Poliakoff, Harriet Walter, Adrian Noble, Emma Hardy, Nigel Hawthorne, Simon McBurney, Mary Whittingdale, Roger Spottiswoode, Clifford Williams, Stephen Crossley, Johnny Perkins, Trevor Nunn, William Burdett-Coutts, Saskia Reeves, James Shaw of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Dave Granger, Paddy Wilson, Chris Taylor, David Rich of Channel 4, Nigel Orton and Chris Hammond of Latymer Upper School, Edward Stead, Matthew Bond, Barry Burnett, Wendy Dixon of West Acton Primary School, Charlotte Tudor, Charles Frater of Silverglade, Theresa Hickey, Ian Francis and Jonathan Donald of the Kensington News, John Prebble, Robert Cushman, Robert Holman, Ang Lee, Susanna Horng, Simon Langton, June Winters and Judy Arthur of Home Box Office, lain Coleman, Peter Savage, Martin Reddin, Sheridan Fitzgerald, Susie Figgis, James Shirras of Film Finances Services Ltd, Ian Herbert of Theatre Record, Max Stafford-Clark, Snoo Wilson, Philip Hedley, John Byer and others who wished to remain anonymous.
Finally, I would like to thank my editors Mal Peachey and Kirstie Addis and my agent Judith Chilcote for their rigorous encouragement and advice, and my husband Liam Maguire for putting up with me.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Alan Rickman Page 37