Alan Rickman Passes Away At 69 From Cancer

Alan Rickman, the classically trained English actor who excelled as tormented fiends and aristocratic weasels in films such as "Die Hard" and the "Harry Potter" franchise, and who also used his languid manner to surprising effect in romantic comedy, has died in London. He was 69.

The cause was cancer, and the death was confirmed by Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of the London Guardian, with whom Rickman collaborated on the play "My Name is Rachel Corrie," about the young American activist who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003.

Read the full story at NZ Herald.