Ralph Richardson

His career has often been compared with that of Olivier, Alec Guinness and John Gielgud. Recently he's been casted to play Marvin's voice in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. His film appearances included The Heiress, Richard III (playing Buckingham to Laurence Olivier's Richard), O Lucky Man!, Oh! What a Lovely War and Time Bandits. Although he has never married, he has been romantically linked to Rima Horton since their days at the Chelsea College of Art. Horton is a politician affiliated with the Labour Party. After World War II, he became co-director of the Vic, and also appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-on-Avon. He also "narrated" the song Bell on the album Tubular Bells II. Thereafter he became one of the Old Vic's major stars. Rickman has recently been immortalised in a song composed by English musician Adam Leonard.

Richardson was born in Cheltenham and made his West End début in 1926. In recent years he has come to the attention of a younger audience through his appearances as the apparently-villainous Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies. Sir Ralph David Richardson (December 19, 1902 - 1983) was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, did their best to make the transition to film. He plays mostly period roles in British movies, while on the Hollywood screen he is typecast as the over-the-top villain. He made a particular impression as the male lead in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and became known to television audiences playing the role of Mr Slope in the BBC's 1980s adaptation of Barchester Towers. Since then, he has been a constant presence on the British stage.

Born in Hammersmith, London to a working-class family, Rickman was a graphic designer before entering the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London in the early seventies. Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born February 21, 1946) is a British stage and screen actor. Die Hard (1988), as Hans Gruber. January Man (1989), as Ed, the painter.

Quigley Down Under (1990), as Alan Marston, an unscrupulous ranch owner. Truly Madly Deeply (1991). Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Close My Eyes (1991).

Mesmer (1994), as Franz Mesmer. An Awfully Big Adventure (1995). Sense and Sensibility (1995), as Colonel Brandon. Rasputin (1996), as Grigori Rasputin.

Michael Collins (1996), as Eamon de Valera. The Winter Guest (1997). Judas Kiss (1998), as Detective David Friedman. Dark Harbor (1998), as David Weinberg.

Dogma (1999), as Metatron. Galaxy Quest (1999), as Alexander Dane. Blow Dry (2001), as Phil Allen. Harry Potter series, as Professor Severus Snape.

Love Actually (2003), as Harry. Alfred Blalock. Something the Lord Made (2004), as Dr.